Faced with severe statewide drought, a large Southern California water district this week announced dramatic restrictions curtailing water use for some 6 million residents.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in late March issued an executive order calling for local water agencies to reduce water usage and tighten conservation, but he did not order any mandatory statewide cutbacks.
Less than a month later, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Tuesday declared a water shortage emergency and announced new restrictions, which will kick in June 1.
The emergency program limits outdoor watering to one day a week across a half-dozen water districts, which cover “dozens of cities and communities in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.”
The district, which is the largest treated water supplier in the U.S., in a Wednesday news release referred to the actions as “dramatic” and “unprecedented.”
What might this mean for Sacramento?
California’s urban water shortage rules
California’s urban water suppliers are required under state law to maintain a water shortage contingency plan.
Most, including the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento County Water Agency, follow a standard framework laid out by the state Department of Water Resources.
That standard, last revised in 2020, includes six shortage levels in which restrictions are gradually increased.
Levels 1 through 5 correspond with targets of limiting water usage by 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%, respectively. Level 6 calls for saving more than 50%.
Newsom’s recent executive order called for the State Water Resources Control Board to “consider requiring urban water suppliers to activate, at a minimum, Level 2” of their plans.
The governor in his order also encouraged water suppliers, “where appropriate, to consider going above and beyond the Level 2 of their water shortage contingency plans, activating more ambitious measures,” which the Southern California district did this week.
The cities of Sacramento and Roseville already entered Level 2 last August, months before Newsom’s order.
The State Water Resources Control Board has not yet formally implemented the emergency regulations requested by Newsom. According to its website, the board will consider the regulations during its May 24 meeting; if adopted, they would likely go into effect June 10.
Sacramento in ‘Level 2’ water shortage restrictions
In the city of Sacramento, the shortage level is determined by City Council resolution.
The council voted in August to put Sacramento under a “water alert,” the city’s term for a Level 2 water shortage, which is the first with mandatory restrictions felt at the consumer level.
With the move, the city instructed residents to switch to a two-day-a-week watering schedule during spring – Wednesdays and Sundays for those with even-numbered addresses, and Tuesdays and Saturdays for odd addresses, effective March 1 – and restricted outdoor watering within 48 hours of Sacramento receiving at least one-eighth of an inch of rain.
The city also limited residential car-washing to the above watering days, and says car washes “must be done with an automatic shut-off nozzle on the hose.”
Additionally, the city doubled the amount for existing water waste fines.
The council’s water committee is next scheduled to meet May 24.
Water for the rest of Sacramento County, outside Sacramento city limits, is provided by nearly two dozen different water purveyors.
Two of the largest – the Sacramento County Water Agency and the Elk Grove Water Service – have nearly identical conservation frameworks to the city of Sacramento, and have already entered Level 2 shortage restrictions.
Across many other purveyors in the county, restrictions vary a bit.
The Carmichael Water District and the Sacramento district of the California-American Water Company, for instance, are asking their customers to limit to three days of watering rather than two.
The Citrus Heights Water District, according to its website, remains at Level 1 of its water shortage plan.
What would higher restriction levels mean?
A move into Level 3 would keep the Level 2 restrictions and add the following in Sacramento: deactivation of fountains and other decorative water features; limitation of landscape irrigation, including at city parks; narrowing of residential watering days to specified hours on watering days; car washing by bucket only; and a potential drought surcharge, according to city planning documents.
The city of Roseville imposed a drought surcharge in June 2014, driving up residents’ water bills by 15%. Some Bay Area water districts are debating surcharges.
Only at Level 4 would Sacramento see outdoor watering limited to one day a week, similar to the new restrictions for millions of Southern California, while also banning car washing and closing swimming pools.
By Level 5, the city would suggest public water use be used only for health and safety reasons. At Level 6, that would become a requirement.
Drought and water sources
The six water agencies affected by the recent Southern California restrictions are those dependent on the California State Water Project, which delivers water to 27 million Californians, or nearly 70% of the state.
“The SWP on average supplies 30 percent of the water used in Southern California,” the Metropolitan Water District wrote Wednesday. “However, three consecutive years of severe dry conditions have resulted in the lowest deliveries ever from this critical supply over the past three years.”
The district declared a drought emergency for State Water Project-dependent areas in November 2021, and noted in Wednesday’s announcement that “conditions have only deteriorated” since then, citing extremely dry weather statewide in January, February and March.
The immediate Sacramento area does not rely on the State Water Project, though jurisdictions just north of Sacramento including Yuba City and Butte County have contracts with the project.
About 80% of the capital city’s water supply comes via the Sacramento and American rivers.
State water officials as of Wednesday recorded the Folsom Lake Reservoir, on the American River, at 105% of its average level for the date. Out of California’s 17 reservoirs, it was the only one above average.
