San Francisco Mayor Farrell wants city departments to start using less water

A metal cover put into place by the San Francisco Water Department is one of the more ornate covers found on the streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. A metal cover put into place by the San Francisco Water Department is one of the more ornate covers found on the streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009. Photo: Laura Morton / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Laura Morton / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Francisco Mayor Farrell wants city departments to start using less water 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

San Francisco is hoping to better prepare for the next drought.

Though the city’s government agencies were good at cutting water use during the recent dry years, easily meeting a self-imposed goal of reducing consumption 10 percent between 2014 and 2017 and often conserving more, Mayor Mark Farrell wants to pick it up a notch.

Farrell is asking the Board of Supervisors to approve an ordinance that would require the five city departments that use the most water to develop plans for trimming water use 20 percent. The departments wouldn’t have to make the reduction anytime soon but would have to be ready to do so should water supplies become tight.

“It is not a matter of if the next drought will occur, but when,” Farrell said in a statement to The Chronicle. “San Francisco must remain resilient and prepared for the next drought, and this new law will ensure our city government is taking appropriate and swift action to scale back water consumption.”

Most of the city’s water is piped in from reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada, though San Francisco officials have been working to boost local groundwater supplies and recycling efforts.

The proposed ordinance, which is scheduled to go before the board Tuesday, would give the city’s top water-using departments six months to come up with plans for making the 20 percent cut. Within 90 days, the agencies would have to outline what conservation measures worked during the recent drought as well as identify plumbing problems, such as leaky toilets, that have hampered additional water savings.

San Francisco ranks as one of the state’s most water-thrifty communities. The city’s per capita water use is among the lowest in the state, with residents consuming an average of 40 gallons per day in March, the latest month for which state data is available. The city’s overall water use is down more than 10 percent compared with 2013, the year before Gov. Jerry Brown declared the official start to the recent drought.

— Kurtis Alexander

Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider @kurtisalexander