Morgan Hill residents and businesses will have to cut their consumption by 32 percent the rest of this year, according to a draft of new water regulations from the State Water Board. But city officials have contested the chief metric used by regulators to arrive at that figure.
The new proposed regulations, announced by the state board April 18, place urban water suppliers throughout the state into “tiers” of conservation standards in order to reach a statewide consumption reduction of 25 percent.
The tiers are based strictly 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.
The city of Morgan Hill is on the higher end of the scale. Customers used 198.5 gallons of water per person per day in summer 2014, and will have to cut water use by 32 percent over the coming year, according to the draft water board regulations.
But Morgan Hill Program Administrator Anthony Eulo said that number is wrong because it is based on an incorrect calculation of the daily metric submitted to the water board by city staff. City staff have recalculated the figure, which Eulo said is lower than 198.5 gallons, before the new regulations are enacted.
“We sent them corrected numbers,” Eulo said. “We don’t believe they have had time to consider those numbers.” He declined to say what the city’s recalculated figures are before the state board has had a chance to consider them.
The water board is accepting input from the public and water suppliers on the proposed tier placements. The board will release a revised draft April 28, and allow more public comment before adopting the new regulations at the May 5-6 board meeting.
On April 1, Gov. Jerry Brown issued a mandatory call for a 25 percent statewide water conservation cut from 2013 usage. The executive order was in response to the ongoing historical drought in California, which Brown noted has resulted in a record low Sierra snowpack level of 5 percent of average.
Water suppliers throughout the state rely heavily on the snowpack for potable water each year.
Also on April 1, the Morgan Hill City Council declared a “level 2” water supply shortage and implemented new residential restrictions. These 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 swimming pools is limited to one foot of water.
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.
Even if the state water board keeps Morgan Hill in the 32-percent conservation tier, Eulo thinks the city can achieve such a cut without having to declare a “level 3” shortage, which would allow the city to place a moratorium on new building permits and prohibit all outdoor landscape irrigation.
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.
The city’s level 2 restrictions include penalties up to a $500 fine for customers who repeatedly flout the call for consumption.
