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June 14, 1990
THE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
Palo Alto, California
19'0 Water KlD'g .. eDt 'laD cpdate
Members of the council:
This informational report updates CO\:ncil on Palo Alto"s water
use status and drought program management~ No council action is
required.
9I.n 01 nIp N.ro IQTSR C:9l9SUKPTI:OII
Hist¢rlcal Consumptipn
Percent Over C+) ,fa fl'o( Start En:! lct .. t or t.lrder (-) P_!ty ItenmJbtf<on
...!!2!:ill!... R!.!.!.... R!l! Atrocttfen (eef)* !L~e-(een" J,Uocltign Ceef£"' -ill-laridrs
5916,073 + '.51 .fl ....
...., •• ,_It, .. II"d AeeulUtatfw .... i"" dO I'lCt 10 fntCi effect '\,t'1tit r.to Aito~. August billfng
fr. Sf\I)~
CUrrent Billing Month
.-Start End AUGeatr"" H of
~ ~ ~ 10 1990
b of J~ HI, '990
'ereent Over (.,l or
~~, Altt!Cation-
-16.BX
-'"£krfrog • ,hen bll1r ... a:lntll~ tt.e perl:~ overfl,nie,r .1Ioc.tian can QI",ly be ¥prCJ~inttd, ~ to
fl'fleret'lt errCW"t in the-e-tectronic: tr~fe1' of data frOll! SFlolI III!tl!l'l t., our record'i11lill daru. "t
IIlInth'. «d .. 'III~ ... ·fI bflted by SF\ll~ thil 1'IUIIi;Ioer r:8!'I be c,teul'ted Iotcurlt .. ty.
INS lJWtlCIBCQ ~TER DZPARTHENT (IFIRH AND nO!oBSALB ."TER
AGIICIIB WATJR USI 'I&TUS
SFWO is in the midst of compiling the total suburban agency usage
CMR: 312< 0
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and th~ usaqe in the city of San Franci~co itself. Therefore, no
data is available to include in this report; however, this
information vill be provided in future updates to council.
Council has inquired about cities vhich are using per-capita
~ater rationing plans. To date, staff is aware of only one Bay
Area city that is doinq 50 (Foster city). Staff will continue to
monitor the i~plementation of this and any other per-capita
programs and update Council on how they are working.
pROOOl!'! lI!OGIWI !!AJQG!OO!!IT
prought Rate Schedule Implementation
Overall implementation has gone smoothly. In response to both
the direct _ailing to all utilities customers and related drought
plan publicity, appro~imately 2~OOO calls were received over the
first few weeks. In the last week or $0, the call volume bas
dropped dramatically.
The majority of calls received were in the following categories:
1)
2)
3)
Requests tor conservation assistance.
Requests for more rate-related information.
Callers who .tsunderstood that their individual 1987 use was
the basis for their new rates and were concerned because
their situation had changed. These callers had no prOblem
when the drought plan was explained.
4) Requests from business or multi-family customers for changes
to their Baseline Consumption Allowance.
S) callers who are already high water ~servers and feared
they could not cut back any further. These customers rarely
needed to cut back to keep within the lower rate tiers.
6) Callers with larger faDilies who felt the drought plan
concept did not accommodate them. Many of these callers
were less concerned once they were shown that with
reasonable conservation~ the impact of the drought rates was
not excessive. (See also hardship exemption discussion
below. )
1) callers reporting water vaste incidents or with questions
about the water use restrictions. Questions about fillinq
pools came almost e~cluslvely from owners of existing pools.
soae of ~bom .istak~nly thought the pool-filling restriction
appli eel to theJII.
CIIR:J72:0
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A bardship exemption process h3S been put in place and the first
applications are being processed. Many applications a~e from
business or aulti-faDily customers requesting a Baseline
Consumption Allowance (ecA) adjustrent. In many cases, the facts
make it Obvious the oriqinally calculated BCA is inappropriate
and a recalculation will be performed. (For example, a IO-unit
apartment complex that had 5 units vacant when their BCA was
calculated but now is fully occupied., Some applications have
come froD custo~ers claiminq extreme economic hard~hip.
In reviewinq exemption applications, staff is using criteria
which include: 1) reduction in use since 1987, when applicable;
2) evidence of conservation measures taken and 3) assuming
conservation has been i&ple~ented, the per~nt of increase in the
customers' water costs and total utilities costs resulting from
the drought rates. For example, a large family who has reduced
vater use in recent years, installed efficient showerheads and
toilet dams, shown evidence of reduced outdoor use (such as brown
lawns), and still has a 60 percent water bill increase under the
new rates, would be a likely candidate for exemp~ion.
To date, less than 50 exemption applications have
Future reports to Council will specify the number
applications received and exemptions granted.
custgmer Qutreach and A5sistance
been received ..
and type of
While not exhaustive, the list below will provide an overvie~ of
the nature and volume of conservation information assIstance
provided since mid-April.
o Direct mailing to all Utilities customers with Official
notice of drouqht rate schedules and water use restrictions.
o Se1IIIinar held for major commercial/ind,ustrial customers.
o
More information was provided in follo~up letters and
newsletters.
OVer 450 requests for conservation literature and water kits
han41ed.
o OVer 2S home and business vater audits performed.
o OVer 300 telephone consultations (conservation assistance
beyond simply answering questions about the drought plan).
o Four-page ins~rt in Palo Alto Weekly
o Nine ads in the Palo Alto Weekly and Times Tribune.
o Four utilities bill flyers
CI!R:372:0 3
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o serIes of three workshops on xeriscape planting for
residential customers.
o six water conservation prese"tations qiven at local schools.
o ·conservation oetective-home ~ater audit booklet developed
and provided to all Palo Alto schoolChildren. grades K-6.
o coordinated local school participation in Countywide vater
conservation poster contest.
A complete packet of all the conservation literature currently
available to resIdents and bUsinesses can be made available to
Council Members upon request.
Respectfully submitted,
~{~<-}(:,~ ~~J(ATZ 2)
Manager. Energy Services
Chair. Water Management committee
irector, utilities
~
Assistant city Kanager
O!R,172:0
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