Windsor residents may face alternate day watering
Published: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 11:38 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 11:38 a.m.
With summer under way, Windsor is likely to join a growing number of North Bay cities and jurisdictions clamping down on water use.
The Town Council on July 1 will consider declaring a “Stage 2” water shortage emergency, triggering immediate mandatory water conservation measures.
Residential water customers would be asked to limit irrigation to three days a week, confine watering to night and early morning hours, and make sure there is no over-spray and excess irrigation that leads to gutter runoff.
Penalties for those who violate the ordinance have not been precisely determined, but Town Manager Matt Mullan said “we like to believe residents will respond to a crisis. If they understand the need, they will, for the most part, do their part.”
Varying types of conservation measures are being enacted in the North Bay to comply with a state goal that customers of the Sonoma County Water Agency reduce water consumption by .
The water agency’s customers are Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, Sonoma and the Valley of the Moon, North Marin and Marin Municipal water districts. Together they serve 600,000 people.
Lower than average rainfall the past few years, combined with reductions in the amount of water diverted from the Eel River have led to historic low levels in Lake Mendocino, which feeds the Russian River.
To ensure there is sufficient water for fish migration in the fall, the state reduced how much the county agency can take from the Russian River by 25 percent and set conservation goals of 25 percent in Sonoma and 50 percent in Mendocino County, compared to 2004.
“It’s not just for fish this year. It’s also for water supplies in Mendocino County and the upper Russian River,” said Water Agency spokesman Brad Sherwood.
Other agencies already have taken steps to meet the 25 percent conservation goal or are ready to do so, said Lynn Florey, the Water Agency’s principal water programs specialist.
Sonoma and the North Marin Water District have adopted 25 percent mandatory restrictions, the Valley of the Moon Water District has a 15 percent voluntary conservation program in place for residents and 25 percent for commercial uses.
Petaluma believes it can get the 25 percent savings by being aggressive in its existing water conservation program, and Santa Rosa is ready to implement more stringent plans once the water-use numbers have been determined.
Cotati has a 20 percent mandatory program in place and believes it can achieve the additional 5 percent through the ban on irrigating commercial turf.
The Rohnert Park City Council on Tuesday voted to continue its voluntary 15 percent program, which according to public works director Darren Jenkins has yielded a 25 percent reduction use for April and May, thus far meeting the state board’s goal.
“It is possible that if weather conditions change and we have a long drawn-out heat wave, we may have to reconsider,” said Councilman Jake Mackenzie.
The council also directed staff to send letters to all commercial accounts asking them to
Some agencies in Mendocino County have instituted mandatory water conservation.
Cloverdale also has asked its citizens to water every other day except Mondays, but has stopped short of making it “mandatory.”
And Healdsburg has asked its residents to voluntarily conserve to achieve a 20 percent reduction in consumption compared to 2008.
In Windsor, if the Town Council approves the conservation measure as anticipated, residents east of Highway 101 would water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Those who live west of the freeway would irrigate on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
There would be no watering on Monday.
Commercial water customers with overhead sprinkler irrigation would be required to use 50 percent less water on their landscape, but not be limited to specific days.
The new rules also could apply to some parks, but does that mean the Town Green will transform into the Town “Brown?”
“Actually not. One of the features of the Town Green is it uses 100 percent recycled water as does the Windsor Golf Course,” said Town Manager Mullan.
He said the residences in the Vintage Green subdivision also rely on recycled wastewater instead of potable water and would not be impacted by outdoor water limits. Those lawns “will look lush and picturesque all summer long,” he said.
In addition to inspecting, adjusting and repairing irrigations systems, residents can report leaks and water waste by calling Windsor’s Water Waste Hot line at 522-8331.
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