The aquatics center, located at 16200 Condit Road, will host two more free summer swimming days for Morgan Hill residents. These are scheduled for 11:30am to 6:30pm July 19 and Aug. 9.

The State Water Resources Control Board approved unprecedented statewide mandatory water conservation guidelines May 5, requiring local residents, businesses and the city of Morgan Hill to cut water use by 28 percent for the rest of the year.

The new rules proposed by state regulators are intended to enact Governor Jerry Brown’s April 1 executive order requiring a 25 percent statewide cut in water use in response to the ongoing historic drought.

The state water board’s unanimous vote places urban water suppliers throughout the state into “tiers” of conservation standards in order to reach the statewide mandate. The tiers are based on each water supplier’s per capita daily consumption water, as measured from July to September 2014. Cities and suppliers who used the least amount of water based on this measurement are required to cut water use by as little as 8 percent this year in comparison to 2013 consumption, while those using the most water will have to cut up to 36 percent.

Although a previous draft of the tiers had Morgan Hill cutting 32 percent of its water use this year, an April 28 revision reduced the local mandate to 28 percent, according to the state water board.

Morgan Hill Program Administrator Anthony Eulo said the state’s initial measurement of the city’s per capita daily consumption was wrong, as city staff submitted the number based on a faulty mathematical formula which said Morgan Hill and its water customers used about 198.5 gallons of water per day.

The new numbers, based on a resubmitted metric reached with the correct formula, show Morgan Hill using 161.3 gallons per person per day, Eulo said.

The city is sure it can cut its water use by 28 percent under the current “level 2” restrictions, Eulo said. These restrictions, which include a ban on new swimming pools and a prohibition on refilling existing pools, were approved by the city council April 1.

“We are shooting for the 30 percent (cut) that the (Santa Clara Valley) Water District has asked us to do,” Eulo said. “We’re looking forward to the community continuing to cooperate with the restrictions, and we’re confident we’ll reach the 30 percent goal.”

SCVWD announced this week that it will host a May 9 “emergency water summit,” which will convene local and regional elected officials to “develop a framework to encourage collaboration and uniformity in the ways in which local cities and public agencies regulate water use in their respective jurisdictions,” reads the district’s May 5 announcement.

The summit will take place 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway.

Morgan Hill’s restrictions also include limiting outdoor landscape irrigation to two days per week, and a prohibition on filling new swimming pools, decorative ponds and outdoor spas. Refilling of existing swimming pools is limited to one foot of water. The city’s level 2 restrictions allow penalties up to a $500 fine for customers who repeatedly flout the call for conservation.

Residents and the city, which owns swimming facilities at the Centennial Recreation Center and Aquatics Center, are permitted to refill water lost through evaporation, Eulo said. The city does not drain and refill its swimming pools.

Violations of the water conservation ordinance are enforced by city staff on a complaint basis.

The state water board’s new regulations do not consider past conservation rates, such as Morgan Hill’s 21 percent cut in water use from June 2014 to February 2015.

Some cities, such as Arcata, which cut only 1 percent of water use during the same period, will only have to cut 8 percent over the next year under the new state regulations. That’s because the city of Arcata is already conservative in its consumption, at 43.5 gallons per person per day in Summer 2014, according to the water board statistics.

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Michael Moore is an award-winning journalist who has worked as a reporter and editor for the Morgan Hill Times, Hollister Free Lance and Gilroy Dispatch since 2008. During that time, he has covered crime, breaking news, local government, education, entertainment and more.

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