Drought: Santa Paulans doing ‘great
job’ with water conservation
September 09, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula is doing a “great job” with conservation according to city officials.
With the city booking the second consecutive month that water savings have hit at least 30 percent Interim Public Works Director Brian Yanez said, “I think it’s a big deal, we’re doing real good,” on conserving water.
With the state in the fourth year of a record drought Gov. Jerry Brown adopted strict water reduction guidelines.
Santa Paula has been saving water all along starting last year when the City Council voluntarily adopted cutbacks.
When the state mandated cuts got stricter Santa Paulans complied by turning off their faucets.
Yanez said that June saw a reduction of 30.3 percent and July was even higher with a 30.8 percent conservation rate; he noted that data for August “should be at least in the high 20s…our community is doing a great job with conservation!”
Residents have also been calling to report water waste: “We’re been getting a lot of calls on our Water Hotline,” about leaks or citizens not following the city’s rules that includes using a shutoff hose to wash the car, not wetting down sidewalks and walkways and adhering to the city’s recommended watering schedule.
Yanez said the city is still busy doing outreach and making sure citizens have information about water use and is working on signage at city entrances urging all to “Do your part” and conserve water by at least 28 percent.
Caesar Hernandez, the city’s regulatory compliance specialist is overlooking conservation efforts and said water use booked a steady decline “Since April when we were at 18 percent…that in May it went up to 29 percent,” in water saved.
“We’ve been reaching our goal since the state mandated water conservation.”
In February 2014, Santa Paula adopted a voluntary requirement to save water use by 15 percent and “as the drought lingered we asked for a 20 percent reduction…as the condition persisted the state started to require additional measures,” late last year mandating a 20 percent reduction and then this year saying all hit the 30 percent mark in conservation.
Said Hernandez, “The community responded pretty well, I’m very impressed the way they responded,” especially in more recent months.
Since the city enacted the Water Hotline “We’ve had folks calling about water waste,” ranging from residential and commercial users to schools.
“We haven’t had to fine anybody yet, it hasn’t gotten to that point as far as enforcement,” but Hernandez said when reports are received and depending on the severity of the report a visit is made or a letter sent.
“Every call we investigate and it seems to be effective…”
Of course there’s a down side to the drought and mandatory water conservation that has turned many lawns brown.
People must pay attention to their trees though as they are not only attractive but also provide shade that lowers temperatures, generate oxygen and help protect the Earth.
“People must find a balance,” of what they irrigate and that also goes for the city.
“We try our best with street trees,” which are drought tolerant but “it’s unfortunate we’ve reached the point of the drought being drastic…”
Nevertheless Hernandez urged all to try to save trees, which can create damage and even injuries with falling limbs or collapses.
Removing a dead tree can also be very expensive.
“If you’re going to use your two days of landscape watering wisely I would focus more on existing trees…give them some water and more life. Lawns do come back,” but not trees.
The City of Santa Paula Public Works webpage www.ci.santa-paula.ca.us/PublicWorksDept.htm has plenty of hints and “Good water conservation links” to other sources.
And saving water goes for the inside too by installing water saving toilets and showerheads as well as keeping showers short and watching how long you run water in the house.
Overall, Hernandez is pleased how Santa Paula has stepped up to conserving water: “The community has responded very well especially because of the heat waves we’ve been having…”
He is hoping new water saving habits will become permanent, especially as the city has “an adjudicated basin and we have to manage our allocation.”
Even with the forecast super El Nino there is no way the record drought will be overcome and in the future water conservation will be the wise—and less expensive way—to live.
Call the Santa Paula Mandatory Water Conservation Hotline to report leaks and waste at 805-933-8787.
