Healy: Petaluma’s drought response

I write to update the community on Petaluma’s response to the Governor’s executive order and the current drought. The two issues are interrelated, of course, but they aren’t identical.

The state regulations implementing the Governor’s executive order are short-term in nature and are anticipated to require Petaluma to reduce total water use by 16 percent compared to the same month in 2013, beginning this June.

Petaluma’s average total net water use in 2013 was 121 gallons per capita per day (gpcd), a 16 percent reduction would be to 102 gpcd. In 2014, Petaluma’s water consumption fell to 110 gpcd. That 9 percent savings is a good start. There is wide variation month to month, however, and we need to achieve the 16 percent reduction each month compared to the same month in 2013.

The Governor’s executive order appears to be aimed squarely at lawns. The regulations implementing the executive order are expected to encourage urban water suppliers, like Petaluma, to implement tiered, water-conserving residential rate structures. Although Petaluma’s rate structure is already tiered, the City may need to adjust the tiers to further encourage homeowners to reduce outdoor watering by making high consumption more expensive. Similar measures are expected for businesses with ornamental lawns.

So if you’ve considered getting rid of your lawn, but haven’t quite gotten around to it, now would be a good time to act. You can mulch over your lawn or replace it with drought-tolerant landscaping.

The City provides free mulch through its “Mulch Madness” program, which has mulched over 1,000,000 square feet of lawn since 2010, saving around 15 million gallons of water per year. The City also offers a “Smart Yard” program - you don’t even need a lawn to use this one - that, at zero upfront cost, will install a smart controller that waters your yard based on actual weather conditions. Both programs can be accessed through Petaluma’s water conservation program at 778-4507.

The City also provides rebates for low-flow toilets and high efficiency washing machines, to help you save water whether you have a yard or not. Additional incentives will be discussed at our workshop April 27, to make hitting savings targets more economical.

Petaluma can and will comply with the Governor’s executive order. But that is the beginning, not the end, of the story.

Water conservation is more of a marathon than a sprint, and much has been achieved in the recent past. Petaluma’s total annual potable water consumption has declined from 160 net gallons per capita per day in 1997 to 110 gpcd last year. A growing piece of that decline is the increased use of recycled wastewater on parks, playgrounds and golf courses. Since 2013, the City has converted 71 acres and 22 million gallons per year from potable water to recycled water.

One important caveat: as people convert their landscaping and incorporate water conservation into their lives, a downside is “demand hardening.” In the past, when a drought occurred, people could readily reduce usage by 20 percent. Not so now, and demand hardening will only increase going forward. As a region, we need to be careful not to let “hardened” demand exceed the region’s reliable water supply in a severe multi-year drought.

Our regional water system is not connected to the rest of the state. Lake Sonoma currently holds 214,000 acre feet of water, and Lake Mendocino holds 60,000 acre feet. The Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) normally sells about 55,000 acre feet to its customers, including Petaluma. This year, due to conservation, it expects to sell about 50,000 acre feet. Yes, we’re in a drought, but our region’s situation is better than most other California urban water systems.

The SCWA estimates that its reliable water supply in a multi-year drought is 71,000 acre feet per year in the near term. Long-term opportunities to increase water supply include raising Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino and using excess winter river flows to inject and store water in the aquifers under Petaluma and other cities. Also, each contractor, including Petaluma, is supposed to have back-up wells capable of delivering 40 percent of our summer demand.

Regional water supply involves complex issues but, long story short, Petaluma still has the ability to responsibly address our fair share of the critical regional housing shortage.

One final point: although Petaluma’s 16 percent reduction tier is based on residential use only, it is total water usage - residential, business and public sector usage combined - that must be reduced by 16 percent. It is essential that all water customers, especially those with lawns, do their fair share. You can expect this to be emphasized when the City Council takes up this issue.

Mike Healy is a member of the Petaluma City Council and vice chair of the Sonoma County Water Agency’s Water Advisory Committee.