Phoenix is following a pattern I’ve frequently noted here – water conservation is, at least for now, outpacing population growth:

Research by Phoenix’s Water Service Department shows 1.5 million people lived in Phoenix in 2013, and about 375,000 homeowners had city water accounts. In 1998, about 1.2 million called Phoenix home, and 301,475 had water accounts. (Apartments and townhouses were not included in those numbers.)

Residential water use totaled 159 million gallons per day in 2013, down from 169 million in 1998, according to Gerard Silvani, a principal planner for the department.

That’s 25 percent population growth, 6 percent water use decline.