While city and state leaders continue to boast about achieving water conservation goals, the Greater Wilshire area has room for improvement after the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced the neighborhood is home to the top 1 percent of water users.

To “turn it around” 180 degrees, the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and LADWP launched a 180-day challenge to the residents in the water-wasting area. Julie Stromberg, chair of the GWNC sustainability committee that conceived the challenge, listed some of the zip codes that are home to some of the worst water wasters. They include 90004, 90005, 90019, 90020, 90035 and 90036. The goal is to reduce volunteers’ water use by 20 percent before the first-of-its-kind challenge is complete. The sustainability committee will work with LADWP officials in an audit of volunteers’ water use before, during and after taking the challenge.

The challenge will officially kick off at the Jan. 13 GWNC board meeting when participating residents will receive an initial analysis of their water usage and recommendations on how to cut back. Then LADWP representatives will help the volunteers identify whether water missteps happen inside or outside of their homes, and they will address ways to conserve in both areas. From discovering leaky toilets to more efficient appliances, Stromberg said the challenge could turn into a way to help residents save water in different ways.

Marty Adams, director of water operations for LADWP, said Stromberg and the committee members were the first to approach LADWP with the idea to engage neighbors on a more personal level to help make a difference. He said the challenge is about changing residents’ behavior and helping them pay more attention to their water habits.

“[The committee members] wanted to do something to change people’s thinking,” Adams said. “I think it could become a model for similar challenges around the city. They become advertisements to everybody on how easy it can be [to conserve more]. You can have a good home and save money and water at the same time.”

Jack Humphreville, a columnist for CityWatch and a board member for GWNC, is one of the volunteers in the conservation challenge. He said he does not know how many gallons of water he uses per day, but that it is probably more than the average Angeleno. He is looking forward to learning about the specifics of how his water use could be improved.

“I don’t know if we have a leak somewhere,” he said. “I’m not really sure where we use all our water. That would be great if they could pinpoint it.”

Instead of typical advice, such as turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth, Humphreville is “elephant hunting” for larger sources of water loss that he is not aware of to get more bang for his buck. He said a lot of it will depend on LADWP making a full effort to find the specific solutions geared toward each volunteer’s water habits.

“They want you to use these shower heads that you wouldn’t give to your enemy,” he said. “I’m looking for the department to do a true audit on our spot.”

Stromberg said based on the success and response of the first challenge, the GWNC is hoping to expand the challenge to more neighborhoods or citywide.

The GWNC board meeting is at 7 p.m. on Jan. 26 at the United Methodist Church located at 4350 Wilshire Blvd. For questions regarding the program, email sustainability@greaterwilshire.org.