HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 - Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 201613-1
NEWPORT BEACH
City Council Staff Report
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
CITY OF
February 23, 2016
Agenda Item No. 13
ABSTRACT:
In June 2015, the State Water Resource Control Board established mandates for the
reduction of water use for each water supplier. The City is required to reduce its
monthly usage by 28 percent compared to water use in 2013. For January 2016, the
City conserved 23.2 percent with a cumulative water use reduction since June 2015 of
20.5 percent. This report provides an update on water use reductions, water
conservation efforts, enforcement, and new regulations.
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive and file.
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
There is no fiscal impact related to this item.
DISCUSSION:
Usage
The City’s overall usage for the month of January was 23.2 percent lower when
compared to the same month in 2013. This is a slight improvement over December’s
water consumption; however, it is still below the City’s state mandated goal. The City’s
cumulative water reduction since June 2015 increased to 20.5 percent.
The table below reflects the progress of the City’s efforts to reduce water consumption
by month. The green bar is the monthly reduction from 2013 and the blue bar is the
cumulative total.
TO:HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM:George Murdoch, Municipal Operations Director - 949-644-3011,
gmurdoch@newportbeachca.gov
PREPARED BY:Cynthia Owens, Administrative Manager
PHONE:949-644-3057
TITLE:Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 2016
Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 2016
February 23, 2016
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The below table depicts the reduction per customer class for January 2016 compared to
January 2013.
Account Type Number of
Accounts
2016 Use 2013 Use Percent
Reduction
Single Family 18,694 331,559 423,536 -22%
Commercial 1,114 122,822 148,321 -17%
Multi-Family 3,784 105,647 131,122 -19%
Sprinkler 428 36,819 71,635 -49%
City Facility 116 11,826 12,028 -2%
City Sprinkler 280 12,481 14,428 -13%
Other 417 46,964 66,567 -29%
Total 24,833 668,118 867,637 -23%
Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 2016
February 23, 2016
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Analysis
Single and Multi-Family water consumption most likely decreased due to reduced
outdoor irrigation and compliance with code enforcement efforts.
There has been a reduction in commercial account landscaping irrigation;
however, indoor usage for restaurants and businesses remain fairly the same
compared to 2013.
City staff is working with Home Owner Associations (Sprinkler Accounts) to
further reduce landscape irrigation. A majority of the Associations are using
smart controllers and adjusting sprinklers during any significant rainfall.
City meters for indoor use continue to remain the same for public restrooms,
libraries and other public facilities where reducing water for indoor use is difficult.
City irrigation has been reduced to one day a week. Unfortunately, this is also the
normal watering schedule used for winter months (January) in 2013. Overall, City
irrigation has decreased when compared to 2013; however, it is difficult to
decrease consumption by 25 percent as most parks and landscaping had water
conservation measures in place prior to 2013.
Education
In January, City staff took the following actions to encourage the reduction of water use
by residents and businesses:
9,835 apartment door hangers were distributed to 25 apartment complexes in
Newport Beach;
Contacted 5,962 water customers by telephone and sent 4,614 emails to remind
residents that Newport Beach is still in a drought and to do their part to conserve
water;
Staff met with representatives of the Corona del Mar Village, Hoag Hospital,
Newport Dunes and the Newport Hyatt to discuss various options for reducing
water use;
Electronic signs on Irvine Avenue and Jamboree continue to relay drought
messages to the public;
City staff worked with the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC)
to provide $250,000 in incentives to the Jasmine Creek Home Owners
Association to remove 250,000 square feet of turf and plant drought tolerant
landscape;
Water conservation public service announcements continue to be displayed at
the Fashion Island movie theaters; and
City of Newport Beach’s Twitter and Facebook accounts continue to distribute
water conservation messaging.
Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 2016
February 23, 2016
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Enforcement
Code Enforcement has increased its efforts to gain compliance. In January, the City
issued 2,039 Notices Of Violations (NOVs) for water use and an additional 11 for other
water related issues for a total of 2,050. The table below depicts the number of notices
and administrative citations issued in since June 2015.
Month
Water Use
NOV
Water Use
Citations
Other Related
NOV
Other Related
Citations
June 2015 53 1
July 2015 333 12
August 2015 311 31
September 2015 296 44
October 2015 72 0 62 122
November 2015 346 0 121 41
December 2015 1 0 19 164
January 2016 2,039 153 11 99
Total 2,458 153 1206 514
Extended Regulations
On February 2, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) adopted
a revised emergency regulation extending the existing May 2015 regulations through
October 2016. The regulation remains essentially the same; however, it does include
provisions that will allow a water supplier to apply for credits that could reduce the
supplier’s conservation standard (target) up to eight percentage points. The factors for
modifying the conservation standard are:
1. Climate Adjustment – considers the climate differences throughout the State.
2. Growth Adjustment – considers water-efficient growth experienced by agencies
in urban areas.
3. New, Local, Drought-Resilient Supply Credit – considers significant investments
by agencies to create a new local drought resilient water supply.
Initial analysis of these credits show that Newport Beach may not be eligible for item 1
due to the cooler climate and staff will investigate item 2 to see if our growth in
population can help here. The City may be eligible for item 3 as the Orange County
Water District (OCWD) has expanded the Groundwater Replenishment System that
uses treated wastewater to replenish the Orange County Water Basin. OCWD has
predicted that each water supplier that produces water from the basin may be eligible
for a water credit of approximately 7 percent. This would reduce the City’s conservation
Update on Water Use and Conservation Efforts January 2016
February 23, 2016
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standard to 21 percent. Staff will provide Council more information in the coming
months.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
Staff recommends the City Council find this action is not subject to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not
result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment)
and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA
Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no
potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly.
NOTICING:
The agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of
the meeting at which the City Council considers the item).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A – State Water Board Adopts Extended Emergency Water Conservation
Regulation
State Water Board Adopts Extended Emergency
Water Conservation Regulation
Extended Regulation Gives More Flexibility to Water Suppliers to Meet
Conservation Targets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: George Kostyrko
Feb. 2, 2016 gkostyrko@waterboards.ca.gov
SACRAMENTO – W ith California still experiencing severe drought despite recent rains, the
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) today adopted an extended and
revised emergency regulation to ensure that urban water conservation continues in 2016.
The regulation extends restrictions on urban water use through October 2016 while providing
urban water suppliers more flexibility in meeting their conservation requirements. It also
directs staff to report back on additional flexibility once more complete water supply information
is known in April. The action follows Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Nov. 13, 2015,
Executive Order directing the State Water Board to extend the emergency water conservation
regulation should drought conditions persist through January 2016.
“After four years of extreme drought, there is still a need for Californians to keep up their stellar
conservation practices,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control
Board. “This updated regulation acknowledges that need, while making adjustments in
response to feedback from water suppliers and others. If we continue to receive a lot of rain
and snow in February and March, we may scale back the conservation requirements further,
drop them, or move to another approach.”
Under the revised regulation, statewide water conservation is expected to exceed 20 percent
compared to 2013 water use. The revised regulation responds to calls for greater
consideration of certain factors that influence water use in different parts of the state, including
hotter-than-average climate, population growth, and significant investments in new local,
drought resilient water sources such as wastewater reuse and desalination.
Due to the severity of the water deficits over the past four years, many of California’s
reservoirs and groundwater basins remain depleted, and the need for continued water
conservation persists. Today’s action serves as the fourth iteration of the emergency regulation
since the State Water Board first instituted statewide conservation requirements in July 2014.
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The State Water Board will continue to track water conservation efforts for each of the state’s
urban water suppliers (those with more than 3,000 connections) on a monthly basis.
Compliance with individual water supplier conservation requirements will continue to be based
on cumulative savings since June 2015. Cumulative tracking means that conservation savings
will be added together from one month to the next, including conservation achieved under the
Board’s May 5, 2015, emergency regulation, and compared to the amount of water used
during the same months in 2013.
Summary of Conservation Regulation Adjustments
The updated emergency regulation continues to specify how much water communities must
conserve based on their residential gallons per capita per day (R-GPCD) data (from July
through September 2014), and provides recognition for certain factors affecting water use,
along with other changes detailed below:
x Credits and adjustments to urban water suppliers’ conservation standards are now
available. They range from 2 percentage points to a maximum of 8 percentage points.
In some cases, water suppliers are automatically credited based on conditions in their
service areas. In other cases, water suppliers must supply specific information to
support and determine the size of an adjustment.
x The regulation provides credits in three ways:
1) Considering the differences in climate affecting different parts of the state;
2) Providing a mechanism to reflect water-efficient growth experienced by urban areas;
and
3) Recognizing significant investments made by suppliers toward creating new, local,
drought-resilient sources of potable water supply.
x The regulation creates penalties for homeowners’ associations or community service
organizations that block, stifle or threaten homeowners from reducing or eliminating the
watering of vegetation or lawns during a declared drought emergency in violation of
existing law.
This regulation extends the original framework that has resulted in a statewide water
conservation rate of 25.5 percent over a seven-month period, according to December
conservation data released earlier today. Even assuming all of the 400-plus water agencies
receive the applicable credits offered in this regulation, the statewide cumulative conservation
rate is still projected to exceed 20 percent.
“We expect a savings rate greater than 20 percent, but perhaps not quite achieving the prior
call for 25 percent,” said Marcus. “We anticipated this might occur with any tweaks to our
existing regulation. This regulation should still allow this state to save more than 1 million acre-
feet of water through October 2016 – which is enough water to serve an average of two million
California families. While we are hopeful that we are turning the corner on this drought, the
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truth is that it’s just too soon tell. Any additional water we can conserve to today will serve us
well tomorrow if the drought continues.”
For additional information and examples of how the credits would be calculated and applied,
please see the fact sheet.
Next Steps
The regulation will now be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law, which will review and
approve or deny the regulation. If approved by the Office of Administrative Law, the regulation
will take effect immediately and remain in effect for 270 days from the approval date.
For more information, please visit the Emergency Water Conservation website.
To learn more about the state's drought response, visit Drought.CA.Gov.
Every Californian should take steps to conserve water. Find out how at SaveOurWater.com.
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