Windsor moves forward with water cutbacks

Windsor residents are now under orders to water their lawns no more than three days per week, following an emergency ordinance enacted Wednesday night by the Town Council.

Windsor’s action comes with California in the grip of a stubborn four-year drought, and in response to conservation targets imposed by state water regulators.

Officials are focusing on outdoor water use because it spikes in summer months, when it can account for 50 percent or more of daily household consumption.

Some cities in Sonoma County, such as Healdsburg and Sonoma, already have instituted limited days for irrigating. Others are moving in that direction or restricting outdoor water use essentially to nighttime hours, like Santa Rosa, which confines sprinkler activity to between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

In Windsor, as a result of the unanimous vote by the Town Council, residents west of Highway 101 will have to limit outdoor irrigation to Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

East of the freeway, it will be limited to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

No residential irrigation is allowed on Mondays.

Commercial and institutional customers may water no more than three days per week and not on consecutive days.

If customers violate the town’s water restrictions, they will be subject to disconnection, but only after two written notices. It will cost $112 to reconnect.

On Wednesday, a few qualms were expressed by Councilman Dominic Foppoli about shutting off water to families if they don’t comply with the restrictions.

But town staff said the emphasis will be on education and outreach to help residents comply with the irrigation schedule or fix leaks, for example.

“I don’t have fear we will go out and shut off people’s water,” said Councilwoman Deb Fudge. She said the disconnect provision is intended for “extreme abusers. I haven’t seen any extreme abusers in Windsor.”

The irrigation rules mainly apply to automatic sprinklers and not to drip-irrigation systems, hand-watering or to subdivisions like Vintana, where homes use recycled water for irrigation, according to management analyst Paul Piazza.

Overall, Windsor has some of the lowest per-capita winter water use in the state, around 50 gallons daily, Piazza said, but an extended heat wave in the summer could easily see that number shoot up.

Fudge said more credit also is deserved for the town’s innovative Windsor Efficiency PAYS program, which saves more than 6 million gallons per year. She said more residents should take advantage of the program, which allows homeowners and renters to install water-saving appliances, devices and landscaping without any out-of-pocket costs, paying instead in installments on their water bills.

But as people use less water, there also is a reduction in utility revenues.

To offset the loss of revenues, keep reserves healthy and cover debt service, Windsor is proposing to hike water and sewer bills by 7 percent beginning in mid-August. A public hearing is scheduled July 15 for the council to consider any protest to the rate hike.

The typical single-family bill, based on 7,000 gallons of water used per month, would go from the current $92.13 monthly to $98.27.

Windsor currently has some of the lowest water and sewer bills in the county, according to the town’s consultant, on par with Cloverdale’s typical monthly bill of $92.

According to a survey of cities in the county by the Reed Group Inc., Healdsburg has the highest rate at $159, followed by Santa Rosa at $127; Sebastopol at $116; Petaluma at $109; Rohnert Park at $99; and Cotati at $97. Sonoma was not included.

Windsor gets about 85 percent of its water from town wells along the Russian River, and the remainder from the Sonoma County Water Agency aqueduct. To cover the increased cost of water from the Water Agency source, the town is proposing water rate increases of 2 percent annually from July 2016 to July 2019, along with 5 percent annual increases in wastewater bills over the same period.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @clarkmas.