Petaluma’s water conservation efforts are paying off

(Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on Petaluma’s water supply and consumption.)

The future of a second water pipe for Petaluma to receive Russian River water may be up in the air, but water conservation efforts are not slacking off and have already reduced water demands far below levels thought possible 10 years ago.

Conservation efforts are already in place because of several dry years and federal orders to stop diverting water from Mendocino County into local supplies, and are considered prudent by City Hall since Petaluma gets 90 percent of its water through a single, 50-year-old pipeline from Cotati.

“We use a variety of methods to encourage the efficient use of water, including ads in the local movie theaters and the Argus-Courier, direct-mail postcards and newsletters,” said Mike Ban, director of Petaluma’s Water Resources and Conservation Department. “Conservation efforts are saving the city about 98 million gallons of water per year (equivalent to the use of about 900 single-family homes).”

Conservation became crucial last year after the state passed an emergency conservation bill that required every water contractor — users such as cities and water districts — to immediately curtail summer water use by 25 percent in 2009. Like most California communities, water use doubles in the hot months of July, August and September. This year, the city met its conservation quota and then some, Ban noted.

Saving water takes many forms. Using less is most obvious, but there are a lot of other ways to cut down the amount of water needed to get through the year. Besides replacing water-guzzling toilets, the city has made 3,330 rebates to customers installing efficient washing machines. The city is also converting manually read water meters with fully automatic meters, with 3,000 out of 19,000 already in place.

“These meters monitor water use 24 hours a day,” Ban said. “If the meter runs continuously for 24 hours, chances are the customer has a leak. We’ve run reports from these meters and have sent out notices to customers that they may have a leak.”

David Iribarne is the city’s water conservation coordinator and oversees the house call program. When requested, a person trained in water conservation comes out to a residence to make a thorough evaluation of water use.

“The major accomplishment of this program is the significant increase in participation since 2006,” Iribarne said. “Fortunately, we live in a community that cares and is always willing to do the right thing. This is evident by the number of participants in the program in the past few years that have signed up for a house call and have taken it a step further by repairing leaks and breaks and changing their habits to reflect the recommendations of the report they receive.”

In the beginning, the city performed about 150-250 house calls per year. The program ramped up in 2006 and now the city performs over 800 a year. They have done 2,288 single-family residential house calls to date and 534 multifamily residential house calls, Iribarne said.

“The most eye-opening thing that we have discovered is that when we do a house call, most folks say that they are already doing everything possible to conserve water,” Iribarne said. “When we arrive and perform the inspection, the customer is amazed at what we find; there are a significant number of homes that have leaks either inside the home or in the irrigation system or both and the customer is completely unaware that the leak exists. We also find that the majority of customers apply significantly too much water to their landscapes.”

Iribarne is also amazed that many homes still have the old toilets that flush seven gallons per flush. “New high-efficiency toilets are performance-tested, work great and use only 0.8 to 1.28 gallons per flush. Gone are the days of the ULFTs (ultra-low-flow-toilet) that you had to flush five times.”

The city’s new Ellis Creek wastewater plant will also provide a great deal of treated wastewater to city parks and public areas that will go a long way to reduce overall water demand every year, Ban said. Reclaimed water used at Rooster Run and Adobe Creek golf courses save the city about 200 million gallons a year.

“With the Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility, we can expand the use of recycled water to irrigate parks, playgrounds and other urban areas,” Ban said. “It makes sense to use this water for the city’s benefit. The General Plan analysis showed the use of recycled water for urban irrigation is the least costly way to meet anticipated future water demands in Petaluma.”

Water customers can sign up online at www.cityofpetaluma.net/wrcd/waterwise-housecall.html or call 1-800-548-1882. Visit the city’s Web site at cityofpetaluma.net/ wrcd/waterconservation.html to find out more about water conservation.

(Contact Jay Gamel at argus@arguscourier.com)