With a water emergency looming that may see residents being asked to reduce their water use 30 to 50 percent, 87.2 percent of those who responded to an Argus-Courier online survey Feb. 26, 2009 said they would not be able to achieve a water savings of 30 percent or more.

Nearly 50 percent (48.7 percent) said they could achieve less than 20 percent savings, while 38.5 percent said they could conserve 20 to 30 percent of water use. A collective 12.8 percent said they could reduce water use by more than 30 percent.

The vast majority (71.8 percent) said they would reduce irrigation of lawns and landscaping to reduce water use.

Here are some of the comments by those who responded to the survey:

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"My husband and I are believers in water conservation and have implemented several strategies for water saving for some time. It will be hard for us to reduce much more than 20 percent at this point. But if we have to, we'll do what we can."

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"Thank you for building all those new health club/ office buildings/residential units that will be using up our precious water supply."

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"I really can't conserve any more. I've been conserving for more than 10 years now. I water once, sometimes twice a week. My husband and I take a five-minute shower each once a day, we only wash our car when absolutely needed, which is not often because we park indoors, we save our flushes, we use a bucket to catch our cold water while waiting for hot and use that for watering. We have always conserved everything; we are not wasteful people. Asking people like us to cut back is not right! We have cut back for years and have no more to cut back! Ask the wasters to cut back!"

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"We cut back 50 percent already because of the very high water/sewer costs. Can't squeeze too much more blood from this turnip."

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"I would like to see them crack down on themselves. I was walking in a park this week and the sprinklers were on. It had rained the night before; why is the city wasting our water like this?"

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"The city has available a water-wise program where a resident can have their water use audit for leakage or sprinklers set incorrectly. This program can really be a benefit to customers who have high water bills. I am wondering if our city's water department has made any cutbacks to its budget, which would reduce the need to raise our water rates once again. Also, have all the schools' and city's sprinklers been turned off? For example: is the police station's lawn still being watered and does the runoff go down Petaluma Boulevard?"

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"We didn't live in our rented home in 2004. Is it a fair comparison if only one person lived in the house in 2004 compared to three now?"

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"Shower together."

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"Everyone should cut their hair to decrease shower times!"

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"When the property is vacant, it is zero."

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"We are already as conservative as possible! Asking people to cut without considering current usage awards wasters and punishes people already monitoring their use."

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"I guess all those people who argued for building desalination plants 20 years ago weren't a bunch of crazy alarmist fools after all."

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"With the emphasis on lessening water usage, it is somewhat unreasonable to think that someone who has been doing their best, regularly, can reduce usage by these numbers. There must be a way to track the citizen who has had low-flow faucets and showerheads for years, has installed significantly more efficient appliances, and done all in their power to cut their consumption."

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"We already reduced our water usage 30 percent last year. Not much more we can do."

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"We've been cutting back for a few years, not sure how we can cut more!"

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"We have a finite amount of drinking water available in Sonoma County. We are being told to compromise our quality of life with water conservation just so we can have more development here. This is ludicrous!"

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"We are a family of five. We take short showers, we do laundry and we do the dishes. I'm not sure where we can cut back other than not flushing toilets. I can't believe my water/sewage bill as it is in the winter. I'm just not sure what we can give up here. I am already disgusted with the rates."

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"I'm already low down on the water use; no conservation for development!"

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"I have been conserving all year with all the methods listed above. I don't know how I can reduce it further."