News Release
San Diego County Water Authority
News Release: March 28, 2008 |
Contact:
John Liarakos
Office (858) 522-6703
Mobile (858) 761-2544 |
or
Craig Balben
Office (858) 522-6726 |
Water Authority Board approves model drought response conservation
ordinance
Local water agencies asked to adopt the ordinance
Seeking to provide consistency in how its 24 retail member agencies respond
to times of limited water supplies, the San Diego County Water Authority Board
of Directors approved releasing a draft model drought response ordinance. The
Water Authority’s member agencies will be asked to use the model ordinance
to update their own ordinances to help provide consistency in drought response
levels and water conservation requirements throughout the region.
“Water agencies throughout the county have ordinances on the books to
deal with limited water supplies, and most have not been updated since the last
drought more than 15 years ago,” said Water Authority Board Chair Fern
Steiner. “The draft ordinance will help lead to consistency in potential
water use restrictions among all the agencies, reducing confusion among water
users and improving the public’s response to the water saving measures
in effect.”
San Diego County faces unprecedented water supply challenges in 2008. Key reservoirs
around California and on the Colorado River are still recovering from historic
dry conditions. In addition, court-ordered pumping restrictions on water deliveries
from Northern California went into effect at the end of 2007 and may reduce
water supplies from that source by up to 30 percent this year and beyond.
The model ordinance includes core restrictions common to the existing ordinances
of the member agencies or successfully employed by agencies in other counties
and states. Using these core restrictions allows the model ordinance to be used
in more areas of San Diego County. Voluntary and mandatory restrictions would
include, but not be limited to, commercial and residential landscape irrigation,
washing of vehicles, required repairs of leaks and breaks in irrigation systems,
and filling of ornamental pools and fountains.
The model ordinance sets up four levels of increasingly higher demand reduction
targets and associated water use restrictions that can be implemented. The higher
stages of the ordinance include mandatory restrictions with accompanying penalties
for noncompliance. The model ordinance also coordinates these steps with the
stages of the Water Authority’s Drought Management Plan.
The levels in the model ordinance are:
Level One, Drought Watch, calls for a 10 percent voluntary reduction in water
use.
Level Two, Drought Alert, mandates use restrictions to help achieve up to
a 20 percent reduction.
Level Three, Drought Critical, mandates use restrictions to help achieve up
to a 40 percent reduction.
Level Four, Drought Emergency, requires use restrictions to help achieve more
than a 40 percent reduction on total consumer use.
Each level contains water use restrictions that become progressively more
significant and are designed to defer economic impacts to more critical shortage
conditions. The water use restrictions also focus on prohibiting wasteful water
use practices, while avoiding penalizing customers who are already using water
wisely.
Examples of proposed water-use restrictions Level
· Time of day watering (before 10 am & after 6 pm) 1-3
· Limit watering time (10 minutes/station) 2-3
· Assigned weekly watering days
o Watering allowed 3 days – summer months/1 day – winter 2
o Watering allowed 2 days – summer months/1 day – winter 3
· Prohibit all landscape irrigation (with some exceptions) 4
Water Authority staff will begin working with member agency staff to provide
assistance necessary to update their existing ordinances.
Details on the model ordinance are available on the Water Authority Website
at: http://www.sdcwa.org/board/documents/2008_03_27/WP.pdf.
The Drought Management Plan is available at: Drought
Management Plan.
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The San Diego County Water Authority is a public agency serving the San Diego region as a wholesale supplier of water from the Colorado River and Northern California. The Water Authority works through its 24 member agencies to provide a safe, reliable water supply to support the region’s $157 billion economy and the quality of life of 3 million residents.
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