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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-02-26 - AGENDA REPORTS - WATER CONSERVATION (4)AGENDA REPORT UNFINISHED BUSINESS DATE: SUBJECT: DEPARTMENT: BACKGROUND February 26, 1991 WATER CONSERVATION Ordinance No. 91-12 Public Works 0 City Manager Approval Item to be presented by: John E. Medina At the February 12, 1991 City Council meeting, the Upper Santa Clara Water Utilities Committee presented information relative to the adequacy of the water supply in the Santa Clarita Valley. The City Council was requested to adopt a water conservation ordinance patterned after a similar ordinance now being considered by the County of Los Angeles. The Council directed staff to meet with the water agencies and to prepare a more comprehensive plan for water conservation. Staff has conferred with representatives of the three local water purveyors, the Castaic Lake.Water.Agency, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to develop an expanded water conservation ordinance which is attached for Council consideration. DROUGHT COMMITTEE The Ordinance calls for the establishment of a drought committee, whose duties will be to review progress achieved in water conservation, projected water supplies and demands and other water supply issues. The Committee will make recommendations to the City Council concerning: (1) timing of the phases of the water conservation ordinance; (2) recommendations to the local water agencies concerning additional conservation measures which can only be implemented by the water purveyors. These items include monitoring of water consumption for each user, charges for excessive water use, and the installation of flow restriction devices where appropriate. Agenda Item: zf� 0 Water Conservation Page 2 WATER USE RESTRICTIONS 0 The water conservation Ordinance contains three phases of increasingly stringent controls over water use. The first phase closely resembles the ordinance being considered by the County of Los Angeles, and is designed to achieve a 10% reduction in water consumption. The second and third phases are designed to achieve a 20% and 30% reduction. The basic elements of the phases are as follows: PHASE 1 Hose Water Prohibitions Paved -areas such as sidewalks and driveways may not be cleaned by hosing with water. Watering of Lawns and Landscaping Lawns and landscaping cannot be watered between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., with no more than one watering per cycle per day. Watering must not result in runoff into the streets or parking lots. Lawns and landscaping under the care of a commercial gardener or landscaper may be watered within the restricted hours, provided that there shall be no runoff into the streets, or parking lots. Irrigation systems must be inspected regularly for leaks, and repairs made quickly. These restrictions on the watering of lawns and landscaping shall not apply to municipal uses, commercial nurseries, golf courses and other water dependent industries. Indoor Plumbing and Fixtures Accessible indoor plumbing and fixtures must be inspected for leaks and repaired as soon as reasonably practicable. New and replacement toilets, showers and faucets must be of the low -flow variety. All indoor faucets must be equipped with aerators. Washing Vehicles Vehicles must be washed by hand-held bucket or with a hose.equipped with an automatic shutoff nozzle. Hoses may not be left running. Public Eating Places Water may be served only upon request by the customer. Decorative Fountains Water may not be used to clean, fill or maintain levels in decorative fountains unless the fountain has a water recycling system. Water Conservation Page 3 PHASE 2 Phase I Restrictions All restrictions from Phase 1 shall remain in effect with the following modifications: Watering of Lawns and Landscaping Lawns and landscaping cannot be watered between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and may only be watered once every two days. Lawns and landscaping under the care of a commercial gardener or landscaper may be watered within the restricted hours once every two days, provided that there shall be no runoff into the streets, or parking lots. The lawns and landscaping related to municipal uses, commercial nurseries, golf courses and other water dependent industries may be watered only once every two days, and not between the hours of 10:00 a.m, and 3:00 p.m., unless reclaimed water is used. Washing Vehicles Vehicles may not.be washed except at a commercial car washing facility which implements water recycling. Landscaping and Irrigation Plans All new landscaping and irrigation improvements must be approved by the City Department of Public Works. PHASE 3 Phases 1 and 2 Restrictions All restrictions from Phases 1 and 2 shall remain in effect with the following modifications and additions: Watering of Lawns and Landscaping Lawns and landscaping cannot be watered between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and may only be watered once every three days. Lawns and landscaping under the care of a commercial gardener or landscaper may be.watered within the restricted hours once every three days, provided that there shall be no runoff into the streets, or parking lots. The lawns and landscaping related to municipal uses, commercial nurseries, golf courses and other water dependent industries may be watered only once every three days, and not between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., unless reclaimed water is used. Pools and Spas No permits shall be issued for new pools and spas. Grading Permits No grading permits will be issued unless it can be demonstrated that.the grading will be achieved with the use of reclaimed.water. The restrictions on irrigation systems shall not be construed to limit their use during testing and maintenance operations. Water Conservation Page 4 Enforcement of the Ordinance would be the responsibility of the City of Santa Clarita and could be accomplished either through the Sheriff's Department or through the City's Code Enforcement and Inspector staff. The Sheriff's Department has notified staff that it does not have the needed personnel resources to implement the Ordinance without affecting law enforcement levels in other areas such as traffic control. The City staff could enforce the Ordinance provided that the City adopt a citation ordinance to authorize the staff to issue citations resulting in fines. The workload resulting from this Ordinance is expected to be significant if the Ordinance is to be effective. An additional code enforcement officer will be needed to implement the program without seriously curtailing the current level of enforcement for other City codes. The .annual anticipated cost of adding one code enforcement officer to enforce this Ordinance is: Salary + Benefits $40,300 Transportation $15,000 Program Expense 5,000 TOTAL: $60,300 It is staff's recommendation that the local water agencies contribute financially to support the cost of enforcement of this Ordinance. The local water agencies have offered the use of their field staff to locate and inventory possible violations of the Ordinance. Their staff would gather information during the normal course of their duties and turn that information over to the City's staff for further investigation and enforcement. PENALTIES Financial penalties will be assessed for willful infractions of the water conservation Ordinance. The first infraction will result in a written warning. The next infraction will result in a $50.00 fine, the third in a $100.00 fine and all subsequent infraction fines will be $300.00 each. The water conservation Ordinance will terminate on January 1, 1992,..unless extended or rescinded earlier by action of the City Council. Water Conservation Page 5 UTILIZATION OF GREY WATER Grey water is water that can be captured from domestic uses that are not polluted with harmful bacteria or other contaminates. Grey water is usually captured from showers, baths or the washing of dishes and clothes. This water can be safety applied to landscaping without creating health hazard, but it could cause damage to plantings depending upon the type and amount of detergents and other cleansers contained in the water. Grey water could also be safety used for manual flushing of toilets and for washing of exterior paved areas. The State Health Department has indicated to staff that they are not concerned with the health aspects of grey water that is captured by hand -or bucket and used in an appropriate fashion, but would be concerned if modifications are made to plumbing systems to capture the water. UTILIZATION OF RECLAIMED WATER When available, reclaimed water can be used for irrigation purposes and for dust control and compaction during grading operations. The two sewage treatment plants in the Santa Clarita valley discharge tertiary treated water that meets the standards of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The California State Health Department has stated that it should not be used for ground water recharge basins nor for uses that will result in direct bodily contact. WATER AVAILABILITY AS A GROWTH MANAGEMENT TECHNIOUE There has been some discussion about whether or not the City should consider controlling development based on water availability and capacity. The water purveyors are a single purpose, special district formed to provide water delivery service. To date, every proposed development project circulated to them for review has resulted in official correspondence from the agency involved saying in effect, they are "able to serve the project with no adverse impacts on water availability or capacity". In the absence of action from the purveyor, the City could most likely not regulate development based solely on City concerns regarding water availability and capacity. What is needed is a consensus approach between the City and the purveyor that would result in our agencies establishing joint policy and being mutually supportive. We think it is reasonable that the water purveyors should value the community ideals and objectives and, if there is strong local desire to preserve precious resources, the purveyors should assist local government in meeting those community objectives. Water Conservation Page 6 Should the Council wish these consensus building discussions to start, staff would recommend policy areas to include: • Water service to existing users is the highest priority. • New development should not be considered for approval until it can be demonstrated there is adequate capacity and availability in both the short term and the long term with consideration given to a continuation of the current drought for another two years. • "Leapfrog" development (extension of the water delivery system past vacant land to service new development) should be discouraged unless it can be demonstrated that the intervening area can be served without service reductions to existing users. It is recommended that the City Council 1. Approve the attached, Water Conservation Ordinance and seek financial support for its enforcement from the local water purveyors. 2. Find that sufficient need exists to implement Phase 1 of this Ordinance. 3. Provide direction to staff concerning the development of a policy for evaluating water availability as a growth management technology. ATTACHMENT Ordinance No. 91-12 AGN: 394 OTHER WATER CONSERVATION MEASURES One third of local water usage occurs indoors. This usage could be dramatically cut through the use of water saving fixtures. For example, 40% of the indoor usage is used to flush toilets. Conventional toilets use between 3 and 7 gallons per flush, while the new ultra low flow toilets require only 1.6 gallons. Showers account for 22% of indoor usage. Conventional shower heads spray 3 to 8 gallons per minute, whereas, restricted shower heads use only 2.5 gallons per minute. There are many things that can be done to conserve water. The following is a list of additional actions, not listed elsewhere in this reporto that the individual water user can implement to.conserve water. • Install water -saving devices such as a low flow shower head and flow restrictors in faucets • Adjust lawn sprinklers to avoid over spray and don't water on windy days • Plant low water demand trees and plants, avoid large turf areas which consume large amounts of water • Use pool and spa covers to reduce evaporation • Place bottles or plastic bags filled with water in the tank of toilets to reduce the amount of water used per flush • Scrape plates instead of rinsing them and avoid the use of garbage disposals • Don't thaw frozen foods under running hot water • Bathe small children together • Install drip irrigation systems • Keep grass.cut between 1 and 3 inches long. This shades the roots, requires less water and allows the roots to grow deeper and become more water efficient • Monitor your.water usage by reading your water meter • Monitor your underground plumbing for leaks by shutting off all water uses and monitoring the water meter for a few hours. If there are no leaks, the meter will not move • Use grey water for watering plans and landscaping