Healdsburg utility officials say they expect to see more lower Russian River water restrictions as early as next week, which would affect the city’s Dry Creek water right. The possibility comes from curtailment issued earlier this week for nearly 1,500 pre- and post-1914 upper Russian River water right holders.
With this new possibility, city officials are sharing information on the city’s conservation levels and addressing commonly asked questions about the drought.
Healdsburg Utility Director Terry Crowley said that the city is having discussions with the State Water Resources Control Board about what a possible lower Russian River curtailment would look like for Healdsburg.
He said there is a potential for further water restrictions in Healdsburg.
“I’m not sure where else we’d continue to cut that would achieve significant reductions beyond where we’re at, so I think the thing is to try to really maintain where we’re at and continue the good work that’s been accomplished,” Crowley said.
Diversions along the upper Russian River are now only allowed for minimum public health and safety needs, such as for operating a city or for public health and sanitation purposes like cooking and cleaning.
As of Aug. 2, Lake Mendocino is at 32.6% of its target storage level and Lake Sonoma is at 50.5% of its target storage.
“This is the lowest recorded storage level for both of these reservoirs,” Crowley said.
In response to the dwindling reservoir levels and water shortage, the city enacted stage 3 of its emergency water conservation mandate in June, which calls for a 40% reduction in water usage city-wide and stipulates that residents use only 74 gallons of water per day per person per household.
Since then, the city has been achieving high levels of water usage reduction. Around 800 residents have signed up for the residential recycled water delivery program, lawns are going brown and locals are getting creative in terms of how they use their budgeted water supply, skipping showers or using the bucket method to collect grey water to do the dishes with.
As of Sunday, Aug. 1, the seven day running average shows a citywide 48% reduction in water usage.
“We do really appreciate the effort in ongoing water conservation measures in the community. This is what will help us get through this crisis,” Crowley said.
According to Healdsburg utility department billing data on the total monthly savings for July, residents, schools and city facilities all exceeded the 40% reduction goal. Commercial and industrial customers did not meet the 40% goal.
The data set compares usage of the previous July to the most recent numbers. Crowley pointed out that 2020 may be a bad baseline to compare commercial water reduction with since many businesses and industries were completely shuttered last year at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Businesses did reach a 20% reduction in their water usage, according to Crowley. Commercial customers use 19% of the city’s total water demand.
Business-level conservation
During Crowley’s drought update to the city council on Aug. 2, he said the utility department did speak with the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce about the stage 3 mandate and messages about the mandate were sent to all Healdsburg water customers.
Councilmember Skylaer Palacious said, during the same meeting, she’d like to see more messaging to local businesses, hotels especially, about the need to conserve water.
During public comment, one resident who identified herself as Debra and did not say her last name said she did some sleuthing around and called a local hotel inquiring about a room and asked whether hotel guests have any water use restrictions during their stay. Debra said the hotel receptionist on the phone said, “No,” in response to her question.
“Just to echo some of the concerns that I’ve received via email from some of the community … maybe more messaging in front of town,” Palacios said. “When I go into restaurants sometimes they do still serve water automatically.”
She noted that she has seen some businesses making an effort to save water. At a recent tour of the Montage Resort, Palacios noticed that the resort painted their dying grass green.
Crowley said the city will continue to work with the chamber on conservation messaging.
“I think it is really important to applaud the efforts that many of our residents have done in the reduction of their water consumption and also for small business, 20% is obviously not meeting the mark of a 40% reduction, but I think it should be something that still should be applauded,” said Vice Mayor Ozzy Jimenez.
