Stage 2 Water Shortage Requirements

(en Español)

The EMWD Board of Directors has declared Stage 2 mandatory conservation measures, effective immediately. This is in response to its wholesale water provider’s region-wide 10% water allocation cutback.

• Background
• Water Efficiency Requirements
• Penalties

Background

On April 14, 2009, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) implemented its Water Supply Allocation Plan and initiated mandatory conservation to its member agencies, including EMWD, effective July 1, 2009, in order to protect its water reserves in Southern California. This action was needed to address the state-wide water shortage caused by record dry conditions in Southern California and court-ordered water pumping cutbacks from Northern California’s delta to protect endangered fish.

MWD’s actions are affecting Southern California water agencies in different ways. On June 17, 2009, the EMWD Board of Directors implemented Stage 2 of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan. Under Stage 2, all EMWD customers are required to eliminate all water waste including hosing down hard surfaces, daytime irrigation, runoff, and leaks. See next section for detailed list of Water Efficiency Requirements.

Water Efficiency Requirements

All EMWD customers are required to adhere to the following water efficiency requirements:

1. Refrain from hosing down driveways and other hard surfaces, except for health or sanitary reasons and then only by use of a hand-held bucket or similar container, a handheld hose equipped with a positive self-closing water shut-off device or a low-volume, high-pressure cleaning machine equipped to recycle any water used.
2. Repair faucets, toilets, pipes and other potential sources of water leaks.
3. Irrigate landscape only between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
   This provision does not apply when:
   • manually watering during the establishment period of a new landscape;
   • temperatures are predicted to fall below freezing;
   • for very short periods of time for the express purpose of adjusting or repairing an
     irrigation system.
4. Refrain from watering or irrigating of any lawn, landscape or other vegetated area with potable water using a landscape irrigation system or watering device that is not continuously attended unless it is limited to no more than fifteen (15) minutes watering per day per station. This 15 minute limitation can be extended for:
   
   • Landscape irrigation systems that exclusively use very low flow drip irrigation systems when no emitter produces more than two (2) gallons of water per hour.
   
   • Weather based controllers or stream rotor sprinklers that meet a 70% efficiency.
   
   But run-off or over watering is not permitted in any case.
5. Adjust and operate all landscape irrigation systems in a manner, which will maximize irrigation efficiency and avoid over watering or watering of hardscape and the resulting runoff.
6. Refrain from watering or irrigating any lawn, landscape or other vegetated area that causes or allows excessive water flow or runoff onto an adjoining sidewalk, driveway, street, alley, gutter or ditch.
7. Do not use decorative fountains unless they are equipped with a recycling system.
8. Do not allow water to run while washing vehicles. Use a bucket or similar container and/or a handheld hose equipped with a positive self-closing water shut-off device to avoid run off into gutters, streets or alleys.
9. When installing new landscaping, plant low-water demand trees and plants. Do not incorporate non-functional turf areas.
10. Refrain from watering during rain.

It is important to adhere to these measures to help minimize the impacts and prevent more stringent actions. Penalties may be assessed for water waste violations (see next section).

Penalties

Stage 2 imposes penalties for water waste as follows:

• Excessive water runoff at multi-family, commercial, industrial, institutional and landscape accounts are subject to receiving one warning for first violation, and penalties of $100 for a second violation, $200 for a third violation, and $300 for a fourth and any subsequent violations within twelve months of the first violation warning;
• Excessive water runoff at single-family residential accounts are subject to receiving one warning for a first violation, and penalties of $25 for a second violation, $50 for a third violation and $100 for a fourth and any subsequent violations within twelve months of the first violation warning.

Additional penalties for EMWD’s Water Budget Based Tiered Rate 4 (Wasteful) are not required at this time due to the reduction in water demand that has occurred since the implementation of Tiered Rates.