California is in a severe drought, and the Town has implemented mandatory Phase 2 water restrictions to help conserve water. For the Town, conserving water is not a good thing to do but indeed a necessity to do. The Veterans Home/Rector Reservoir, which supplies water to the Town, has advised it will only provide 400 acre-feet of water this year. In recent years, the Town has consumed 540 acre-feet of water. We must collectively reduce our consumption by 140 acre feet (29%) to match the safe, reliable water supply of 400-acre feet.
The good news is the Town has reduced our water usage to 424 acre feet this past year. Thank you to our customers for taking action to mitigate and limit outdoor landscaping irrigation. Most single-family residential customers only use 200 plus/minus gallons of water for daily indoor use. Water for landscaping is the most significant water use during the summer dry season and represents our single most significant opportunity to reduce our water consumption.
Recently the Town Council heard from customers asking for more flexibility in the days with which they can irrigate landscaping than the Town’s current two days a week with a daily maximum of 450 gallons. On July 19, 2022, the Town Council approved new single-family residential water restrictions for a weekly allocation of 2,350 gallons and eliminated the two-day-a-week landscaping watering restriction. This change is designed to allow homeowners the flexibility to manage their outdoor irrigation, provided they stay within the weekly allocation. For those needing more flexibility with their outdoor watering, we hope this modification helps. In most cases, the Town encourages maintaining the two-day-per-week outdoor water schedule and keeping those water-saving habits you have put in place.
The Town offers a free water monitoring system called “Eye on Water” that allows you to track and monitor your water usage. Please visit Eye on Water for more information on this free program and how to enroll. This is a helpful tool for those who may opt to water more frequently than two days a week so that you can track and monitor your daily and weekly usage to ensure you don’t go over the 2,350-gallon weekly limit.
All other restrictions remain in place, such as:
- Regardless of the water source, all outdoor irrigation shall be prohibited between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- No using of potable water to wash down structures, sidewalks, and driveways
- No hand watering or washing motor vehicles with a hose unless the hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle.
- No irrigation of median parking strips (between the sidewalk and the curb) shall be allowed without a drip irrigation system.
The Town also offers a “cash for grass” rebate program for homeowners who take out grass turf and replace it with drought-friendly landscaping. For more information, click here: Cash for Grass.
The Town has a detailed page with information on the ongoing drought situation, current restrictions, helpful hints to save water, and information on our rebate programs at Water Conservation Plan.