Petaluma to ease restrictions on water use

Petaluma is moving toward easing the water use restrictions imposed in the past year amid a massive statewide drought, though a broader cultural shift suggests an era of greater water conservation to come.|

Petaluma is moving toward easing the water use restrictions imposed in the past year amid a massive statewide drought, though a broader cultural shift suggests an era of greater water conservation to come.

Anticipated to go before the Petaluma City Council for possible adoption on June 20, the new measure would no longer hold residents and businesses to a firm target to reduce their potable water use, said Petaluma Public Works and Utilities Director Dan St. John. The measure is instead likely to include a 10 percent voluntary target, and will loosen restrictions on some practices, including outdoor irrigation.

Yet some other restrictions will become permanent in Petaluma, which, along with a trend away from lush green landscaping and other efforts, are anticipated to lower the city’s per-capita water use into the foreseeable future, he said.

“We believe there has been a societal shift from the old paradigm of emerald-green grass front yards, to water-saving landscape in your front yard as being equally beautiful and valuable in terms of real estate,” St. John said.

The relaxation of rules in Petaluma stems from new California drought regulations that no longer lump the North Coast in with drier regions like Southern California. Water providers are now allowed to set their own conservation targets based on three-year local supply forecasts, effectively eliminating mandated restrictions in an area where major reservoirs are nearly full.

Petaluma is thus off the hook for the mandated cuts still required for some other urban areas in the state, allowing the city to ease its own rules impacting residents and businesses. Emergency drought regulations that went into effect across California in 2015 aimed to reduce water use across all urban areas in the state by 25 percent from 2013 levels, leaving Petaluma with 16 percent to go to achieve those results.

St. John applauded residents and businesses for quickly getting on board when the rules went into effect in 2015, achieving a 21 percent reduction in potable water use since June of last year - well in excess of the 16 percent target. Use levels in Petaluma were down a combined 28 percent compared to June 2013, exceeding the state’s 25 percent goal.

Potable water use in California as a whole was down 23.9 percent since June 2013, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

“I was very pleasantly surprised by how well California performed last year, and especially proud of how Petaluma and the region performed in terms of meeting targets,” St. John said. “Quite frankly, I had concerns when these mandates were first promulgated. But it’s my belief that because of the attitude shift in our state, that we shifted from emerald-green lawns to water-saving landscapes, that’s why we were so successful.”

Petaluma maintained the authority to fine residents and businesses for failing to comply with the drought-related rules, yet the city rarely needed to do so over the past few months. Petaluma issued several warnings but only handed down one fine during the period - a $150 penalty to the Addison Ranch Apartments for failing to fix a leak after previous notice of the problem, according to Environmental Services Manager Leah Walker.

The vast majority of city water users have been willing to comply with reductions in use. Yet the willingness of Petaluma residents and businesses to conserve water has recently come into sharp contrast with the fact that a series of winter rains have essentially filled the reservoirs that serve the city, prompting at least one elected official to spend several months lobbying in Sacramento for a more nuanced approach to the state’s emergency drought regulations.

As chair of a group representing cities served by the Sonoma County Water Agency, the Water Advisory Committee, Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy praised the state water board for the May 18 decision to give local suppliers more leeway in managing their regional drought policies.

In previous letters to the board and testimony during its meetings in Sacramento, he had argued that local compliance could ultimately wane as users come to realize the relatively healthy state of county water supplies.

While arguing that the framework could be more simple, he said it was a step in the right direction.

“I think the State Water Resources Control Board’s modified drought regulations are more cumbersome than necessary. But I’m also a believer in the old saying, ‘Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.’ With that thought in mind, I think the new regulations are a huge improvement. The Board is moving away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and recognizing that there are a lot a variations in water supply situations around the state,” Healy said in an email.

Even before Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency drought regulations, Petaluma already had a phased plan for measures that would ramp up gradually to encourage conservation during a drought. That framework has itself been revised as part of periodic updates to Petaluma’s Urban Water Management Plan.

The vote expected for June 20 could move Petaluma from a current “phase two” conservation framework to a newly defined “phase one,” St. John said. The move will eliminate limits on using potable water for irrigation, which had required watering to occur only on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings.

The phase now includes some new mandatory elements - restaurants can only serve drinking water by request, and potable water can only be used to wash down pavement for sanitation reasons.

At least one tweak is nudging in the opposite direction - a prohibition on the filling of private swimming pools will bump up from stage two to the more severe stage three. A handful of residents were caught in limbo and unable to fill new pools when the city ramped up to phase two last year, St. John said.

Certain rules are also becoming permanent regardless of drought - irrigation is prohibited within 48 hours of rain, and owners of pools or spas must also own and use a cover. Other permanent measures require no runoff or overspray during outdoor irrigation, the use of nozzles on hoses during washing of vehicles and the timely fixing of leaks.

Many of the permanent changes to infrastructure, landscaping and attitudes over the past few years of drought are anticipated to support an ongoing reduction to Petaluma’s historic water use.

Around 20 million gallons of highly treated wastewater from Petaluma’s Ellis Creek treatment plant went toward irrigation of parks in 2015, a use that is totally unaffected by regulations on drinking water, St. John said. That’s after zero went toward parks in 2012.

More of that water - from around 200 million to 225 million gallons per year - is also now going toward irrigation at the Adobe Creek Golf Course, after a remaining half of the course converted from a combination of well water and potable water.

Upcoming expansions of the system will include the Kaiser Permanente campus on Lakeville Highway and nearby commercial areas, along with an extension to the Petaluma campus of Santa Rosa Junior College, he noted. Other permanent savings come from the increasing prevalence of water-stingy landscaping for yards in Petaluma.

Per-capita water use in Petaluma averaged around 70 gallons per day in 2015 for residential users, down from 79 in 2014 and about 96 in 2013, he said. While expected to bump up during the hotter summer months, daily use per person is at 60 gallons so far in 2016, he said.

“I think 20 years from now, you’ll drive down the street and you won’t see green lawns in front of houses,” said Healy, who noted drought-friendly landscaping has become commonplace in areas like the southwestern United States. “Maybe even 10 years from now.”

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)

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