Video Transcript:

GLORIA PENNER (KPBS reporter): This summer, San Diego implemented the most comprehensive water-conservation measures in the city's history.  After several months of mandatory water cutbacks, how ARE San Diegans doing at conserving? KPBS reporter Sharon Heilbrunn has an updated look at the water situation in San Diego.

SHARON HEILBRUNN (KPBS reporter):  Remember those mandatory water restrictions? Well, they're working. Conservation has reached double digits in San Diego.

BOB YAMADA (SD County Water Authority): We look at how we use water last year vs. this year, we're down anywhere from 10-16%, and that is significant and certainly measurable.  It indicates that water use restrictions are having an impact and folks have implemented these water use restrictions as part of their daily life.  

HEILBRUNN: We're still in a drought, Yamada says, and we're still on a level two
alert, which means scheduled irrigation and timed lawn watering. And
that isn't expected to change.

YAMADA: It's going to depend upon what happens in the upcoming year with our water supplies as to whether or not that changes.  We really dodged a bullet in 2009, we had some heavy spring rains that brought our reservoir levels up, brought our snow pack up,  to the point where at the beginning of the year we thought things could be pretty dire at the end of the water year of 2009, it didn't turn out that way thankfully, but as we go into 2010 and as we look forward, we're still facing these pumping restrictions on water from the bay delta that are caused by declining fish populations.  And those have not gone away.

HEILBRUNN:  But it seems that San Diegans are catching on to conservation. They're
even tattling on their neighbors. According to the City of San Diego
Public Utiltiies Department, the were more than 2,000 citizen complaints
for water waste in the last three months.  And the push to conserve continues at the state level as well. Several rebates are being offered for purchases of water efficient appliances, like washers, toilets and irrigation nozzles. We wanted to know -- in
these days of cutbacks, what are YOU doing to conserve?

KATHY CARLSON (Spring Valley):  Well we do have the garden, so we try to only water it one time, and then take a little bucket around and water just a few of them the second time per week.  

BRENDA WILSON (Pacific Beach): Limiting how we water everything, be more conservative for when I run the dishwasher, how I wash my laundry, just about everything I can think of really.  

ALLIE WACKROW (La Mesa): We're cutting back on water.  We have a pretty big yard and a pool, we try to keep the pool as low as possible, we water what is it, every three days.  My grandma, I live with her, and she starts complaining that the yard is dead, but you can't really do anything about it.   

HEILBRUNN:  To learn more about rebates for water-efficient appliances, visit www.socalwatersmart.com.  We want to know what you think of this issue.  Log on to KPBS.org/sdweek and leave us a comment.  For KPBS.org, I'm Sharon Heilbrunn.