With drought conditions worsening, the Town of Windsor is joining other communities and organizations in enacting mandatory water restrictions within its service area.
The town council adopted a resolution declaring a Level 2 Water Shortage Emergency at its regular meeting July 21, after earlier calls for voluntary restrictions failed to reach the 20% reductions called for by the State Water Resources Control Board.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in Sonoma and Mendocino counties in April, as low rainfall resulted in historically low water supply levels at the Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino reservoirs. According to the council staff report, 2021 has been the driest year in the Ukiah Valley during 127 years of record.
Cristina Goulart, Windsor’s environmental program manager, said at the most recent measure, Lake Mendocino is in a critically low storage condition, at 39,384 acre feet, or 39% capacity. Lake Sonoma, the largest of the two lakes, is at 128,000 acre feet, or 52% capacity. Each year, the average California household uses one to one-and-a-half acre feet, a volume one acre in surface area and one foot in depth, according to the Water Education Foundation. Another way to conceptualize one acre foot is about 19,000 showers.
Level 2 is the second of six water emergency levels established in the Town of Windsor municipal code’s water contingency plan, and it will remain in effect until water supply conditions justify a return to Level 0. The water management plan that contains the water contingency plan levels was also updated at the meeting, a routine five-year update.
Goulart said the majority of the restrictions are on outdoor water uses, particularly landscape irrigation, as they are large-scale water uses easier to cut than more essential uses.
“Townwide, we are not meeting the town’s goal of 20% reduction so far this summer, so we need to do more. We need to focus on outdoor water uses, since that’s where we’re going to get the biggest reduction in water use — in irrigation. We will be in line with what our partners in the region are doing,” said Goulart.
Water use actually increased in Windsor in May following the council’s call for voluntary reductions, and although the town saw a 12.5% reduction in June, mandatory restrictions are required to meet reduction goals, according to Goulart.
While the Level 2 restrictions include demanding restaurants to offer water only upon request and hotels to do the same with daily linen service, the most impactful and widespread restrictions have to do with landscape irrigation and other outdoor water uses.
Landscape irrigation will be prohibited between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., with Windsor residents limited to three irrigation days. The nights of the week during which residents will be allowed to conduct outdoor irrigation depend on which side of Highway 101 they live one. Residents on the west side will have Wednesday, Friday and Sunday as their irrigations, with residents on the east side having Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. No residential irrigation is permitted on Monday.
At Level 2, water waste patrols are increased, and residents will be required to fix leaky water equipment within 72 hours of identification. Residents are also encouraged to report those in violation of the water, and can do so by calling 707-838-1004.
The water contingency plan also prohibits certain water uses at all times including prohibitions on landscape watering that causes runoff and power washing without a water recycler, and demands on commercial car washes, laundries and construction sites.
Goulart said the water patrol crew has been responding to about 40 calls per day, focusing on educating community members ignorant of the need for water reduction.
“We want people to know water waste is not allowed, and to offer them assistance as well. We do not focus on enforcement, we focus on education,” Goulart said.
According to the water shortage contingency plan approved earlier in the meeting, there are six levels of enforcement action to be taken, beginning with notification of the violation and issuance of a notice to correct at levels one and two. From levels three to five, administrative penalties are imposed. If compliance is not achieved following the fifth violation, the town’s final measure will be disconnecting water service.
The Town of Windsor itself has reduced water usage by reducing park and streetscape irrigation by 20%, shutting off the Town Green fountain, increasing drought messaging and other measures.
Ordinances imposing mandatory water restrictions to reach the region’s 20% reduction goal have been enacted throughout Sonoma County communities, at the behest of Sonoma Water and the Sonoma-Marin Water Saving Partnership.
