Newport Beach City Council unanimously voted Tuesday evening to declare a level three water supply shortage and amend the Water Conservation Ordinance.
The resolution of intent to declare a level three water supply shortage is “a direct response to the severity of the drought in California,” said Co-Director of Municipal Operations George Murdoch, who gave a presentation on both items.
“This is an urgent situation,” agreed resident Dr. Jack Skinner, who has been involved with water quality in the city for many years.
“I’m well aware of what’s occurring in our aquifer and we’re really going to get a squeeze,” he said during public comment.
A level one water supply shortage was adopted by the city council in September, Murdoch noted. On April 1, Governor Jerry Brown signed an executive order directing the state Water Resources Control Board to impose water restrictions to achieve a 25 percent reduction state-wide.
The board then looked at all 411 water agencies in California and created levels determining how much each agency would need to cut. The city of Newport Beach came out at 28 percent.
If adopted by the Office of Administrative Law on May 18 the city will have to achieve the 28 percent reduction – as compared to the same months in 2013 – by February 2016.
In order to make the cut, staff recommended council adopt a level three water supply shortage.
There are five key components of level three, Murdoch explained.
First, outdoor irrigation is not allowed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Next, the number of days residents are allowed to irrigate their lawn is reduced to two days a week from April through October, and one day a week from November through March. Currently, under level one, lawn irrigation is allowed four days in the summer and two days in the winter.
The third change is to ask that no customer use more than 75 percent of their base amount (their three year running average), or, in other words, cut 25 percent of what they are currently using.
To cut that much water usage at his own house, Skinner said he’ll likely have to let his grass go brown.
“I’m willing to do that,” he added. “I don’t see any way around what we’re facing. We’re all going to have to let our lawns go brown, if indeed this water situation continues, in order (to ensure) we have enough drinking water and other things in our city.”
The fourth part states that water leaks should be repaired within 24 hours. Lastly, no customer shall refill their pool more than three inches per week.
Three inches of water evaporation is a lot, so that is a generous figure for the topping off rule, said resident and owner of Alan Smith Pools and Pool Plastering, Alan Smith. If it’s any more than that, it’s likely a leak and needs to be repaired.
“There are a lot of ways for swimming pool owners to save water,” Smith continued. “As miniscule it is in the state-wide effort, it could be substantial for the individual use.”
Some customers drain and refill their pool yearly, which is unnecessary, Smith said. It should be done as needed for proper water sanitation, which could arguably be every three to five years, Smith explained.
Randy Beard of Pure Water Pools and outdoor living space design said “We are being very conscious, in the industry, to make sure that we do save water.”.
Pools are “low hanging fruit,” he added, they’re very easy to attack. But the data shows that swimming pools use far less water than lawn or greenbelt areas, Beard explained.
The trend for outdoor environments is now to use low-flow, drought-resistant plants, and less grass to help conserve water, Beard explained.
But there are still people that are abusing water, he said.
“Water is still just pouring out on the street,” Beard noted.
He witnessed exactly that on a Newport Beach street on Tuesday morning.
“Our residents are not doing a great job,” he said. “We need to start now with some kind of enforcement to stop it, whether it’s a tag on the door or code enforcement rolling on them, because we’re just wasting a lot of water.”
In many cases, residents may not even know it’s happening, he added. Gardeners may have their sprinklers turned up too high or using too much for maintenance.
On the other side, there are many residents who are already conserving as much water as possible.
For those customers, there is a relief from compliance form that they can fill out, Murdoch explained.
“It does give us the ability for us to consider relief from these restrictions for certain measures,” like unemployment, additional persons living in the home, new residents with no baseline, already using certain conservation practices, along with various other reasons, Murdoch said.
The city will notify every customer by mail before the restrictions will be enforced, Murdoch explained. They are also reaching out to the community through associations, town hall meetings, and more.
The notice will come back for a public hearing and adoption by council on May 26.
The other water-related item of the night was the amendment to the Water Conservation Ordinance.
Council passed the ordinance in 2009 to guide staff on permanent restrictions during a drought and increasing levels of conservation regulation as the drought got more severe.
Staff wanted to amend the ordinance for a few reasons, Murdoch explained.
Since the State Water Resources Control Board re-adopted emergency regulations, the amendment will help comply with those regulations.
The changes also work better for pool owners. The old rule banned filling a pool in a level three shortage, which would cause the filtering equipment to stop functioning and the homeowner would end up with a “mosquito pond” in the back yard, Murdoch explained.
The amendment changes the ordinance to include that pools can’t be filled more than six inches a week during a level two shortage. In level three, no more than three inches per week is allowed.
If it can’t be maintained at that weekly rate, there is likely a leak, Murdoch added.
“So it allows homeowners to fill their swimming pools and keep them full, but it encourages them to fix leaks,” he said.
A paragraph was also added in the amendment to allow the city to enforce the state emergency regulations so staff doesn’t have to keep returning to council to amend the ordinance.
