Poll: City should not ease water restrictions

A majority of respondents in an online Argus-Courier poll said that Petaluma should not ease water use restrictions, despite the wet winter.|

A majority of respondents in an online Argus-Courier poll said that Petaluma should not ease water use restrictions, despite the wet winter. About 57 percent said that the city should keep mandatory water restrictions in place, while 43 percent said Petaluma should ease water restrictions.

Here are some comments:

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“Petaluma should not ease restrictions on water use. Why? Because we had four years of drought, and it takes four years of above-average rainfall to make up for that deficit. We just got through one winter of maybe average rainfall. That does not make up much of a difference. Besides all that, wasn’t Petaluma’s allotment of water frozen about 12 years ago? And we keep on growing without any increases in our water supply.”

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“Conservation measures in place now should be continued indefinitely. We live in a drought-prone state and that will not change nor should these restrictions.”

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“How can anyone believe there is a water shortage when the city continues to allow new building?”

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“I think here in Petaluma they should ease it slightly. Most commercial locations with large lawns should be the ones to have more restrictions, or at least allowed to use recycled water. There should also be more allowance for water collection as a whole in the state. Brown’s been governor before and through droughts before, and we should spend the time and money on water collection and not a bullet train to nowhere.”

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“Just because the lakes and reservoirs are full for now, they are already beginning to drop.”

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“Not only should we ease the restrictions, most everyone in Marin and Sonoma never had a water shortage to begin with. Not once did any news media report a true picture of our water storage. Even at our lowest point, water storage was at a normal for yearly average.”

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“One good season of water is not going to erase years of drought. We need a few more years of rain and snow like this past winter before removing any water restrictions. Why are so many Americans so short sighted?”

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“Prices should be reduced as a reward for us doing our bit, not used as an excuse for another rate hike.”

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“The drought is not over.”

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“Water is and will continue to be a scarce resource until more efficient use is adopted by all. Obviously true reforms must come from large users but individual homeowners should also do their part.”

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“They have allowed construction of hundreds of new dwellings, are over-watering city-owned landscape and have failed to come up with any viable alternatives, other than unreasonable restrictions, to address future water shortages.”

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