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THE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
Pale Alto, California
1"P water Manag"9nt Plap pPda\.
Members of the council:
B'R9 rt fa ari .,
This informational report updates Cou~11 on Palo Alto's water
use status and drought progra. management. No Council action is
required.
exn or PALO AL'l'O nTlB COISpxrTIOl!
Xo date the customers of Palo ~to's water utility have done very
well this year in keeping water consumption below allocatiQn.
Through the billing month of CCtober, & 69,000 unit bank has been
accumulated to draw on as allocations are exceeded in future
mont.hs.
starting with November, it will be increasingly difficult, if not
impossible, to make a 27 percent reduction, most of which will
need to come from indoor usaqe.. SO far during the. billinq month
of November, Palo Alto is approximately 35 percent over its
allocation. This is due primarily to two factors:
1) October and November of 1987 had 26 percent ~bove
normal preeipitatlon~ which reduced water consumption
{mainly outside irrigation). It is from this unusually
low water use level that we must now cut ha~k 27
percent.
2) Unseasonable warm and dry weather since mid-October has
Q¥tended the outside irriqation season.
leUal 1111.<1 Copsumptiop
Pel"'(:ent DIoer (.)
51111111 $tlllM; ''''' Actual Dr UndIIr C-]
.J!Imll!.. !!ilL ~ Ai lq!i4t!M re,f)" Ih./IIClCf<::d'l-Al1oc.tll9rt
PeM;1::I Acc<6IUTcti.:P1
.....ll.L-"'M1r'1i! (s;,<f) .. , Apr-II 19 l1li.1 ZI 5S6,013 £22.96tl -+ 4.51 k/"' .... I/A*" ..... ... " Ju .. 20 65.1.8Sa 5('II,E'501 -IS."'-I/A*"
"'" .hine 21 JIlT)' 2'tl 645,221 6~,~15 -l. a; H/A**
aOU57410
Al-gust Jt,oly ~l ..... kil, 20
Oct.!" Sop' "
*1 cc:f •
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Aug. !.I ~a,3H1 ~"1. ~l -4.n I , • 30, 75~
Se,t " !iSS,ISS 65&,62'9 -1.7l. , , -+ 42'.2'~O
Oct. 22 551,11U ~1.'!2 -. '" I • ... No,5Dl
l+undred C .. bic F'eel. 142 ~l1ona • I ImH.
J'er\eTtIH .1M J.cc~.Io1!tI1'l! Banklni did "CIt i':I '"t~ effe..:t Imtil .1'110 Alta". Augu~t
bll11~ f~ S.M.
cqrrtpt I.ti •• t_a Billipg Mopth
Allocltlon .b of IIell. e, l!l~O
etllllt; Start rod as t)f UsI~ 15 of ""l"'Cent Oye1" ( .. ) 01"
-l!OI!1L !!a!L Pili .... • 1!!!21l reef) !Icy. a 199<1 (cef) f-l lmdi!r Aliocollierj'°u
....... " "" " IrJII. ltI ~l.aoo 272',!llO +JS.~
"O"t"ODurinv • glYel'1 ell11J'li mant~. t:-.e pe"Ctnt O"tIarf~1" .Hoe.tiOl'1 can eml)" be-.ppry.-i"""ted, d~ to
inlw:"lflt errors in t.~ electranic t ... ns:fer of data fl"ln !'Ire AHe meter:s tIO 101.11" 1"lIi<:ord!T'19 C~rt5
.rod uti_tee! bf:'ling ddes . .-.1; IIIOntt'. er1d. whl!n billed by SM, tillS nYllber Gan be
c.alc .. Tated Iccur.t.ly.
Based on projections by staff, assuming the current ~eather and
water usage pattern, Palo ~to will exceed its Sovember
allotment, use All of the banked credit and also pay
approximately $60,000 to $140,000 in fines~
Attachment A shows the total SFWD system suburban use (30
aiencies), as compared to both 1987 usage and the 1990 allocation
through October 31 J 1990~ The line delineated by the cross (+)
shows the first indication that the suburban group bas exceeded
its allocation in late October~ It can be seen t"1ldt the 1987
consumption (the line) drops off dramatically in october and
November. due to the wet 'Weather that occurred in 19S7~
Prought Rate Schedule Implementation
In the last two months, an additional 50 applications have come
In for adjustments or hardship exemptions J brinqinq the total
received to 240. This relatively low total is an indicator that
the drought rate schedules have proven acceptable and appropriate
for the vast majority of our approximately 30,000 water
CU8tomers~ See Attachment B for a summary of application types
and outcome of their review.
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WAter U§e Ordinance
The .~~sh BUster-force has been reduced to one full time and one
part.time employee. They continue to provi~e full ccveraqe of
the City, seven days a week.
Approximately 300 warninq notices have been i&&ued since the
emergency water use restrictions went into effect. The majority
of the notices h~ve been for irriqation r~otf anO waterinq
during prohibited bours~ The public remains responsive, ho~ever.
and stricter enforCQment aetion due to ~ultip1e violations has
not yet t-aen required.
customer Out~ach and Assi,tance
city staff Is makinq extra efforts to control the rise in
consumption relative to our very low November allocation.
Special alert advertisements have been printed in the Palo Alto
weekly and direct maillnqs have been sent to corporate customer~.
City park irrigation controls have been set to their minimum
possible vaterinq cycles (two minutesl~ staff is looking into
installing the basic equipment for a centralized irrigation
control system. Among the many water and labor saving ben€fits
of such a system is its ability to even further reduce the length
of waterinq cycles. Also, previously scheduled hydroseedinq of
turf at Mitchell Park ana the CUltural center have been deferred.
A ·D~~in9 For The Rain-drought awareness event is being planned
for November 29th at City Hall Plaza. The goal is to create an
attention-qetting forum for disbursing conservation information
and motivating public action~
Tbe list below summarizes onqoing conservation assistance
proviciPd by staff since the last Council update (CMR:509:0).
• Performed 51 on-site water audits; provided 180
telephone consultations; handled 173 requests for water
kits and factsheets froa Palo Alto residents and
businesses.
• Sent specially targeted informational mailinqs to:
hotels and motels
hiqh residential users
hiqh commercial users
• Made two classroom presentations at local elementary
schools.
• Placed nine ads as part of an ongoing ad campaign with
CKII..574ZO 3
•
the Palo Alto Weekly.
• Issued two utilities bill flyers providinq water
quality information And landscape water use guidelines.
• Continued conserv~tion videos en local cable channel.
• Reviewed 16 neW commercial landscape plans for
conformance with guidelin~.
• Participated in local ~Jents by promoting water
conservation (including the Chamber of CCMmQrce Trade
Shov, Hewlett-Pacxardts Employee water Awareness Day,
~nd the Peninsula conservation center Awards ceremony).
• Featured water issues in the latest newsletter sent to
Major Account custom~rs.
• Developed &nd made available 1aminatea siqns for
residents and businesses who want to identify their
buildlnq or yards as conservation areas.
1n the months ahead, Utilities staff will continue outreach aiEed
at immediate reductiGns to keep Palo Alto as close to its
a11ocation as possible,. Staff is alao preparing strategies for
t"acing a pos$ible fifth year ot drouqht4 Equally important,
staff ia developing plans for more actively promoting permanent
water management improvements that make sense whether or not the
drought continues.
~espectful1y aubmitted,
\2):£,,«-~~~~
DEBRA lCATZ ~~.
Manaqer, Energy services
Chair, Water Manaqement Committee
~y~~ry
Director, uti,l<ities
/.~;{..
~ FLEMiNG ~
IAsslstant city Manaqer
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~tachments: -A-Water Use Report
-B-Hardship Exemption overview
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BI-WEEKLY REPORT ON SUBURBAN WATER USE
2OO
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220
200
'110
1OO
£'l I <4() 0 :x 120
0 ... 100 ..,
::> 110
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20
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-20
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-80
C '987
J(mU'HY I, 1990 Inru Oclob<>r 31, 1990
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r.b I, ,Mor I Apr I May I Jun I Jut I Au~ I S.p I oct
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'I-1990 TOI>AT[
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MONTli AllOCATION Q
Noy I D.c;
t" I~ ,r
PlnSII. IUMP"r:IO' ,.,'LXCAfIOl!f OVIRUI!
(~ra .ze percent of tot&! application. proe •••• d: 237)
APR1lo'ticD Dtse:ipt!oA
47\ sin91e-fa~ily 22\ ccm!!!.ercia.l 7t pUblic
places
H industrial
Ipp1icapt V.I Ii.tory
sot below 1987 levels 26\ e!ie! not have 1981
consumption for
24' above 1987 levels comparison
1lgu9.t ."BOA (Percent oE total applications received: 2401
Baseline Consumption Allowance ne~ds to be
recalculatec! due to vacancy or unusual billill9
in winter months used.
Lar<Je household or property
Increase in size of household since 1981
Medical need
Economic hardship under drought rates
Miscellaneous other reasons
I •• olgt;iop
68\ granted 3.2\: denied.
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