Pleasanton City Council Votes to Temporarily Suspend Drought Billing Penalties for 90 Days

Information submitted by City of Pleasanton:

In a 4-0 vote last night, the Pleasanton City Council suspended the billing penalty component of the City’s emergency drought mandate for a period of 90 days, at which time it will be re-evaluated. The 90-day suspension will allow time to consider the condition of the reservoir levels and snowpack in the State Water Project.

A presentation by Operation Services Director Daniel Smith included the recommendation to suspend the billing penalty triggers of local emergency drought measures implemented last May that called for a mandatory 25% reduction in water use. Passage of the item included the option to reinstate drought billing penalties at any time during the suspension period should water demand revert to pre-drought levels, or the water supply in California deteriorates even further. All of the remaining local Stage 3 prohibitions on wasting water will remain in effect. Please visit www.PleasantonWaterConservation.com for more detailed information.

“We are in a wait-and-see mode right now regarding the final amount of rainfall and snowpack that we get for the season,” noted Smith. “It’s important for our water users to understand that emergency drought measures could go back into effect prior to April if we don’t have enough measurable rain and snow by then,” he added.

The topic will come before the City Council for review again at its April 21, 2015 meeting. Until then, Smith pointed out that State water restrictions remain in effect until at least April 15, 2015. Those measures include a 20% voluntary water reduction over the 2013 consumption, irrigation only between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., no washing down of driveways or hard surfaces, and the use of covers on swimming pools.

Since May, water users in the City of Pleasanton have collectively reduced consumption of potable water by 27.8%.

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