Folsom mandates tough water-saving rules
By Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, August 28, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1



It's a milelong walk for, from left, Jon Shropshire, Shannon Baker and Sarah Burgess as they head back Thursday to the Beals Point parking lot from the shrunken shore of Folsom Lake. The lake level has dropped 7 feet in the past month as summer water use mounts.
LEZLIE STERLING / lsterling@sacbee.com

Folsom on Wednesday ordered the Sacramento region's toughest water conservation yet to deal with a worsening drought: mandatory rules to cut water use by 20 percent.

The measures are the most drastic Folsom has adopted since at least the last statewide drought, in the early 1990s, and perhaps even longer. And they reflect a growing sense that the drought now gripping California will get much worse before it eases.

Folsom has about 19,500 customers and is entirely dependent on water stored in Folsom Lake. On July 25, city officials learned that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would cut deliveries from the shrinking lake by 25 percent.

And since Folsom water customers did not respond well to calls this summer for voluntary conservation, "we clearly need to step it up" with mandatory action, City Manager Kerry Miller said.

Starting Sept. 5, Folsom customers may water landscaping only on alternate days: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for even street numbers, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for odd number addresses.

No irrigation is allowed on Mondays, and automatic sprinklers cannot be used between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Penalties will be issued to those allowing water to flood sidewalks and gutters.

Also, restaurants can serve water only by request.

The Sacramento region has been largely immune to severe water cutbacks adopted this summer in other parts of the state.

The Bay Area and Los Angeles face additional limits on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where court rulings have restricted water diversions to protect fish. Many water utilities in those areas have also struggled with voluntary conservation targets and have moved to mandates.

But the capital area could see further restrictions as the drought continues, said John Woodling, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Water Authority.

The state Department of Water Resources previously indicated that even normal weather this winter will not completely refill California reservoirs, meaning prudence may be needed for some time.

"Without a wet winter, we'll be seeing a lot more of this next year and more stringent conditions," Woodling said.

There's little reason, so far, to expect relief this winter.

Long-range predictions by the National Weather Service, based on computer modeling, show no evidence of a wet winter. There also is no suggestion of either El Niño or La Niña conditions, which often bring drenching rains.

"It looks like the prognosticators are afraid to touch California right now," said Kelly Redmond, deputy director of the weather service's Western Regional Climate Center in Reno. "It's too darn difficult."

Folsom Lake held 308,000 acre-feet on Wednesday. That's about 30 percent of capacity and about half of the historical average for August.

Over the past month, the lake has lost about 45,000 acre-feet and dropped in elevation by 7 feet due to demand.

Folsom buys its water – about 27,000 acre-feet per year – from the Bureau of Reclamation via Folsom Lake. The city learned in July it would be unable to tap into an additional 3,000 acre-feet from the lake.

In June Folsom urged customers to voluntarily save water. They did well at first, Miller said, but in July consumption returned to normal.

Mandatory conservation will last into winter, at least until rainfall patterns cause demand to drop off.

Ken Payne, Folsom utilities director, said the city's normal summer water demand is about 40 million gallons per day. In winter it drops to between 12 million and 14 million gallons per day. Most of the summer demand is driven by a desire to keep lawns green.

All but 5,400 of Folsom's water customers have had water meters installed, but all customers are still billed a flat rate. The city faces a 2012 legal deadline to meter the rest of the city and begin billing according to consumption.

The city will unleash "water waster" patrols to watch for watering violators, Payne said.

"We're not going to take a heavy hand, but where we have chronic violators, we will have measures in place to cite violators," said Miller.

First offenders will get warnings. For another violation, that customer will begin getting billed on a metered rate, Payne said. If that customer doesn't yet have a meter, one will be installed and metered billing will begin.

Folsom has the second-greatest per capita water consumption in the capital region: 381 gallons per day. That's more than double the statewide per capita average of 164 gallons per day.

Folsom residents can request a water consumption audit by calling (916) 355-7252. Customers of other area utilities can request an audit via the Regional Water Authority at (888) WTR-TIPS.





What used to be a shoreline at Beals Point is a dry lake bed as water has receded at Folsom Lake. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has cut water deliveries 25 percent to deal with two years of low rainfall.
LEZLIE STERLING / lsterling@sacbee.com