Atascadero tightens water restrictions
Residents are mandated to only two water days per week
Following California Gov. Jerry Brown’s announcement that all water municipalities in the state need to work toward an overall reduction of 25 percent in state water use, Atascadero Mutual Water Company Board of Directors updated its Stage 2 water shortage conditions on May 12. The restrictions and rate increases will go in effect on June 15.
According to the resolution, the goal of the added restrictions is to reduce overall water use by 28 percent, which was mandated by the governor. The water company board has mandated that residents only water a maximum of two days per week, with outdoor watering prohibited on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Even-numbered street addresses may wanter on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with odd-numbered addresses on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Though the Fourth Appellate District Division Three ruled that San Juan Capistrano’s tiered water rates are unconstitutional on April 20, Brown held strong on his mandate.
“The practical effect of the court’s decision is to put a straitjacket on local government at a time when maximum flexibility is needed,” Brown said. “My policy is and will continue to be: employ every method possible to ensure water is conserved across California.”
Paso Robles City Council reaffirmed its Level II water shortage condition and adopted an urgency ordinance on May 5. The city limited outdoor irrigation to days a week with landscape irrigation prohibited on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. Paso Robles prohibits outdoor watering from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Other restrictions for Atascadero Mutual Water Company customers currently in place that will continue:
- Outdoor watering is banned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
- Newly installed landscaping may be watered daily for the first 21 days after planting, although it is preferred that planting is held off until the fall.
- Run-off from landscaped surfaces is banned. The watering of grass, lawns, ground-cover, shrubbery, open ground, crops and trees, including agricultural irrigation, in a manner or to an extent which allows substantial amounts of excess water to run off the area being watered is prohibited. Every water user is deemed to have under his control at all times his water distribution lines and facilities and to know the manner and extent of his water use and excess runoff.
- The washing of vehicles and other activities involving the use of a hose without a shutoff nozzle is prohibited.
- Restaurants and other food service establishments are prohibited from serving water to customers unless requested.
- Hotels and motels must provide guests with the option of not having towels and linens laundered daily.
- Commercial, industrial, and institutional properties are to
immediately implement water efficiency measures to reduce potable water use by 28 percent. - Other prohibitions: Failure to repair plumbing/irrigation leaks immediately; washing of sidewalks, driveways, patios, and other water-wasting activities involving the use of a hose; irrigating with overhead sprinklers when it is raining, using potable water in decorative water features that do not recirculate water or using outdoor irrigation during and 48 hours after measurable rain.
