Sonoma County water officials say conservation must be maintained

Local water suppliers can’t say whether Sonoma County communities will remain under mandatory conservation orders for another year, but their residents can expect that the yearslong drought has forever changed California’s water practices.

Abundant rainfall and well-supplied reservoirs have put the county in a better position for summer than some other regions of the state, officials said Monday.

Even so, ending mandatory conservation orders here will depend on what rules the state water board adopts this spring.

Communities across the state are under orders to cut water use by as much as 36 percent compared to 2014. Santa Rosa’s target is a 16 percent reduction.

Whatever the board decides, Californians can expect to be called on to keep up their conservation efforts. Moreover, the days have ended when state residents may legally hose down driveways or let lawn sprinklers run on rainy days, officials said.

“We’re not in a drought right now,” said Brad Sherwood, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Water Agency. However, he added, “Drought or not, we should not be washing down our driveways with water.”

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday issued an executive order with a list of water uses now permanently banned, including causing irrigation to run off lawns and washing cars without a shut-off nozzle on a hose.

Officials for three local water suppliers suggested the governor’s list won’t have much impact on their residents. The reason is that all or nearly all the listed items already are banned in their communities.

“This is just taking a lot of what we’re doing and making it statewide,” said Jennifer Burke, deputy director of water resources for the city of Santa Rosa.

Also Monday, state water regulators unveiled a proposal that would allow local communities to drop the mandatory conservation order if they can demonstrate adequate water supplies for coping with three consecutive dry years. The water board will consider that proposal May 18.

If the board adopts the new proposal, the Valley of the Moon Water District near Sonoma likely would have enough water from wells and the Russian River to be able to lift the mandatory conservation order, general manager Dan Muelrath said. However, he said, he won’t know for sure until the state board takes action and the county Water Agency provides three-year supply projections.

Paul Piazza, environmental program manager for Windsor’s public works department, said it was too early to know how the proposed rules would affect the town. If the state board takes action this month, a committee of the county’s water suppliers likely will get answers when they meet with county water officials in early June.

Burke of Santa Rosa also said the city has yet to make the needed calculations to know whether it could lift the mandatory order.

Users in all three communities have exceeded the mandatory conservation orders, the officials said. Similarly, the state reported Monday that Californians in the past 10 months cut water use 24 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

The resulting savings in use were enough to supply a year’s worth of water to 6.5 million people.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit.