City Acts in Response to New Drought Requirements

PLEASANTON, CA: The Pleasanton City Council modified its local drought requirements Tuesday in response to Pleasanton’s successful conservation efforts, as well as the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWB) newly adopted standards for statewide water conservation, which were adopted on May 18, 2016.

“We’re pleased to announce that while the mandatory drought restrictions have been relaxed, they are not entirely gone,” said Kathleen Yurchak, Pleasanton’s Director of Operations and Water Utilities, adding “while this year’s rain and snow certainly helped the situation, water conservation will remain the new California norm for the time being.”

In addition to the wet winter, other factors also contributed to the city’s decision to alleviate drought restrictions, including the community’s exceptional conservation efforts and the ongoing work by the city to install purple pipes throughout Pleasanton.

The latter will eventually reduce the city’s reliance on potable supplies by 10 percent. Yurchak states “this was a team effort by mother nature, our residents, businesses and the ongoing work of city staff to construct and deploy the purple pipes project.”

The Council voted unanimously to adopt a Stage 1 Water Shortage, the guidelines for which differ from the previous Stage 3 drought conditions under which the City of Pleasanton has been operating. Under a Stage 1 Water Shortage, conservation targets are set at 10 percent water savings, as compared to 2013 usage.

Mandatory conservation measures remain in effect to prevent water waste, though there will be no drought surcharge assessed for the time being, the city retains the authority to impose with advance notice these assessments at any time should the need arise.

In addition to voting in favor of the 10 percent conservation goal, here are some restricted water uses during the Stage 1 Water Shortage:

• Irrigating landscapes with potable water should occur between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m.; be limited to no more than three nonconsecutive days per week May through September, and; watering is permitted as long as it is confined to the lawn or landscape being watered and runoff onto driveways and sidewalks does not occur.

• Potable water may be used for washing cars from a hose with a shut-off nozzle as long as water does not enter the storm drain system.

• Using potable water to wash down hard ground surfaces (driveways, walkways, sidewalks) is prohibited.

For a full list of restricted water uses, please visit the City’s Water Conservation website.

While the short-term conservation requirements may be easing, it is important to note that the declared drought emergency for the State of California has not been lifted and the City of Pleasanton remains committed to meeting the mandatory conservation goals of reducing potable water consumption by 20 percent by 2020, as enacted through the Water Conservation Act of 2009.

“We have done an excellent job of conserving water when it was needed most, and our efforts paid off. That said, however, nearly 60 percent of California remains in a severe drought and while this is down from over 90 percent last year, it’s important to recognize and pay attention to the long game and not ease up completely not knowing what we will be faced with next year,” Yurchak said, adding “and continued conservation efforts will help recharge the ground basin, which could become severely impacted through extreme drought conditions.”

Announcement submitted by City of Pleasanton