SLO County city demands residents cut water usage by 20% as drought-related shortage looms
Grover Beach residents will now have to cut back on their water use significantly or potentially face a hefty fine.
The Grover Beach City Council on Monday declared a Stage 3 water shortage, which also puts in place a mandatory requirement for all residents to reduce their water consumption by 20% compared with the previous year, according to a city news release.
The move is meant to help protect already stressed resources as California continues to experience drought.
“As this historic statewide drought persists, water conservation is more important than ever,” Grover Beach Mayor Jeff Lee said in the release. “We understand that these restrictions may be challenging for residents and businesses, but it is critical that we all do our part to limit water waste as much as possible and protect our finite water supply.”
The city had previous enacted a Stage 2 water shortage in May, which required water use reductions of 10%.
As of Monday’s meeting, the city had only reduced its annual water consumption by 5.2%, according to the release.
If that level of conservation continues along as with dry conditions, the city said its water supply would be unable to meet demand by as soon as 2024.
According to a staff report, the city currently uses about 1,300 acre feet of water per year, but that amount is expected to increase to 1,350 acre feet in the next five years and to almost 1,800 acre feet in the next 30 years.
Meanwhile, the city’s available supply — coming from Lopez Lake and groundwater — will likely decrease to about 1,020 acre feet by the start of the 2024 water year without sufficient winter rainfall.
An acre foot of water is 325,851 gallons, or roughly enough to cover an entire football field in a foot of water.
During the Stage 2 shortage, there were no penalties for those who did not meet their reduction targets. On Monday night, however, the council chose to approve a number of penalties for those who don’t conserve.
Those include a warning letter upon the first violation, a $100 fine for the second violation and “higher financial sanctions” for any subsequent violations, according to the release.
The council also directed city staff to look in supplemental water supply options during Monday night’s meeting, including continuing to pursue the Central Coast Blue regional recycled water project that is currently expected to be operational by late 2025.
“As we continue to work diligently on ways to supplement our water supply, we urge all Grover Beach community members to do what they can to reduce their water consumption and take advantage of the rebate programs available,” city manager Matthew Bronson said in the release. “The city is taking a proactive role to ensure sufficient water for our community and additional conservation efforts will help us meet this goal.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
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