State Mandated Water Conservation Begins
This is the first week of mandatory State water conservation regulations.
Joel Metzger, Community and Customer Relations Manager of the Calaveras County Water Control District (CCWD) was Friday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.
Last month, the Calaveras County Water District Board of Directors had already established Stage 3 mandatory water conservation measures which affects about 12,600 customers.
These conservation measures were adopted in response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s declaration of drought state of emergency along with a curtailment notice from the State Water Resource Control Board sent out in early June.
The district has encouraged its customers to voluntarily conserve water since Brown’s drought declaration and is appreciative of the conservation efforts many people have made over the past few months.
Now that mandatory conservation measures are in place, here are some things that Metzger wants CCWD customers to know:
CCWD will undertake public outreach to educate the public about water conservation.
Use of water for cleaning hardscape is prohibited.
All irrigation is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Line flushing will be discontinued.
Water may only be used in decorative fountains and recreational ponds to preserve aquatic life.
Filling new or existing pools is prohibited.
Residential landscape irrigation will only be allowed on an odd/even watering program.
o Odd-numbered addresses: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
o Even-numbered addresses: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
o No outdoor watering on Sundays.
Water for irrigation of commercial landscape, schools and parks shall be reduced by 35 percent.
Where permitted by the state, treated effluent, rather than raw water, will be used for dust control.
Golf course irrigation will be restricted to greens and tees if raw water is the sole source. Raw water delivery will be reduced by 35 percent where treated effluent is being used.
Because the district could incur stiff financial penalties for not abiding by the state-mandated water curtailments and because of the district’s commitment to help conserve water for the state’s benefit as a whole, it has also enacted enforcement measures to ensure customers abide by the mandatory water conservation measures:
If customers violate the conservation order, they will first receive a written warning.
If the problem persists, those in violation will have their water governed by a flow-restricting device for a period of 30 days, or until the CCWD Board of Directors repeals the state of emergency.
The district may also pursue a misdemeanor violation of California Water Code Section 31029. If convicted of this crime, a person could be put in jail for up to 30 days, fined up to $600, or both.
According to Metzger, little conservation efforts do add up quickly and every drop of water is important.
For more information, log on to http://www.ccwd.org/
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM.
