Camarillo City Council: Water Conservation Mandate

By Logan McFadden

The Camarillo City Council held a Special Meeting on October 5, 2015 at the Camarillo Public Library. Tom Fox, Public Works Director, gave a presentation on Camarillo’s water conservation plan.
Governor Brown’s recent Executive Oder set forth a temporary water conservation mandate which expires at the end of February 2016. The Governor will assess California’s water reserves at that time to determine what water conservation mandate, if any, will be required going forward.

The Metropolitan Water District set Camarillo’s water reduction target at 20% based upon 2013 usage. Camarillo’s effective long-range water plan was recognized by the MWD in setting the relatively low goal. Other cities received reduction goals as high as 37% because they had not already taken steps to conserve water. Camarillo has complied with its target in June (25%), July (27%), August (21%) and September (23%).

Camarillo’s water reduction strategy includes water conservation, recycled water, and a desalination treatment plant. Camarillo is served by five water agencies. Each agency determines the water reduction target independently. The area served by City Water is under a Stage 2 Alert which allows customers to water their lawns three days per week. The Camarillo Springs neighborhood, for example, is served by the Camrosa Water District and is under a Stage 3 alert.

The Regional Housing Need Authority (RHNA) is a statewide policy which prevents a city from arbitrarily stopping new development. California policy requires that housing be inclusive rather that exclusive. If a city submits a housing plan not in conformity with RHNA, the courts may approve higher density and lower quality projects. Each new development requires the developer to provide a water impact study.

Camarillo requires all new developers to “bring water to the table.” In other words a new development must not negatively impact the water supply currently available to serve existing water customers. This is generally met by transferring water rights from the former land owner to the City. If the transferred rights are not sufficient to meet the projected water consumption for the new development, the City will require the developer to participate in the rebate program. The developer pays a calculated fee per unit to support water conservation in another part of the City. Simply stated, an existing customer receives a cash rebate from the City for planting a drought tolerant landscape, installing low flow filters and/or purchasing water efficient appliances. The reduction in water use by the existing customer(s) is offset by the additional water usage for the new development, thus resulting in a net zero impact to the existing customers. The end result is that level of the Stage Alert remains the constant.

If the Governor increases the water conservation mandate in March 2016 to 40% as an example, then quite possibly all of the customers served by Camarillo City Water would move to Stage 3 Alert. This would allow for lawns to be watered twice per week. Individual customers may also have to install low flush toilets and/or water efficient appliances to meet their 40% reduction goal.
Tom Fox took questions and received several compliments from the audience for the informative presentation. The City Council has positioned Camarillo at an advantage with the implementation of the long-range water conservation plan began several years ago.

On October 14, 2015, the City Council meeting will include a presentation of the proposed water ordinance to comply with the plan as discussed herein. Residents will each be given up to three minutes to comment on the proposed ordinance.

Then, on October 28th, the City Council will meet to vote on the ordinance.

Camarillo Council Meeting Archive

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Logan McFadden is a Citizensjournal.us city reporter and a recently retired banker, residing in Camarillo. He volunteers for the Heritage Action Sentinel team and serves as the AMAC Delegate to the 26th Congressional District.

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