Measure description
The average amount of water used by San Francisco customers per day is an indicator of San Francisco's conservation efforts. The measure helps the San Francisco Public Utility's Commission (SFPUC) track progress as SFPUC continues to invest in water conservation.
The SFPUC’s retail water conservation program consists of an extensive mix of measures, including incentives, services, and educational assistance. The SFPUC also provides a host of tools to help customers understand and manage their water use, including an online portal for viewing daily, weekly, and monthly water use; alerts to single family, multi-family, irrigation and nonresidential customers with continuous water use; and a bill adjustment program for leak repair.
Why this measure is important
Reporting on the average amount of water used by San Francisco residential customers per capita per day helps the public, elected officials, and City staff track the City's water conservation efforts.
In November 2021, San Francisco declared a water shortage emergency in response to the statewide drought and declared a 10 percent reduction in water usage across its regional system. Thanks to its water conservation efforts, the City formally rescinded the Water Shortage Emergency Declaration in April 2023 based on systemwide hydrologic conditions and water storage in the SFPUC's reservoirs. Measuring the status of continuing conservation efforts will help San Francisco to avoid water shortage emergencies in the future.
The chart's legend is below:
- Y-axis: Gallons per capita per day of water sold to San Francisco customers
- X-Axis: Months within the calendar year
- Actuals below the 50 gallon per customer-day (gpcd) target line are preferred.
Water Sold to San Francisco Residential Customers
Observations: San Francisco residents' water usage has been consistently below the target of 50 gallons per customer-day (gpcd) every month since tracking began in September 2014.
How performance is measured
The average amount of water used by each San Francisco residential customer per day is calculated using the following methodology:
Total gallons sold per day divided by total residential customers.
This measure is an estimate of per capita water sold to San Francisco residential customers in gallons per day calculated using the population of retail service area. The number displayed on the scorecard page represents a fiscal year average of the values in the chart above.
Data
Population data come from the California Department of Finance population estimates and water sales data come from the SFPUC billing system. Water sales data is reported with a one to two-month lag. For example, May's data will be available at the end of June.
Additional information
Learn more about how you can conserve water.
City Performance Scorecards
This page is part of the City Performance Scorecards.
Return to the Sustainability & Climate Action Scorecard.
Return to the City Performance Scorecards Home Page.