SLO bans daytime watering amid collection of new drought restrictions
The city of San Luis Obispo is making moves to reduce water use throughout town due to the statewide drought, including limiting outdoor watering hours and adding some business restrictions.
On Tuesday, the City Council declared San Luis Obispo is now in Stage 2, the “Warning Stage” of its 2020 Water Shortage Contingency Plan.
The city does not technically meet the threshold for Stage 2, which previously meant water supplies were projected to not last more than five years.
Mychal Boerman, SLO’s deputy director of water, said Tuesday night that the city currently uses about 5,000 acre-feet of water per year, which is well below use before the previous drought between 2012 and 2015.
Boerman said following that last drought, the city also took steps to add more water sources to the city’s portfolio, which helped to make the supply more secure.
Though SLO’s water supplies are “faring much better,” Boerman said, a statewide executive order earlier this year required all cities to implement their Stage 2 water management measures, regardless of actual water supply, as an emergency drought response.
What are SLO’s new water restrictions?
Tuesday’s declaration allows the city to implement conservation regulations to help reduce water use throughout San Luis Obispo without technically meeting the threshold for Stage 2.
Some of the conservation measures include temporarily banning irrigation for decorative turf with potable water, accelerating water audit programs, identifying and contacting the city’s largest water users and increasing water waste patrols, according to a city staff report.
The city will also limit outdoor watering to the hours between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., meaning no more daytime lawn watering until further notice, and will require restaurants to only serve water upon request, according to the report.
People are also asked to restrict the use of decorative water features and fountains.
The declaration is expected to impact “a minimal number” of city facilities, according to the staff report. Those include City Hall, Fire Station No. 1, the Ludwick Community Center and the San Luis Obispo Police Department, which all have turf areas where irrigation will be discontinued until further notice.
The city’s trees will not be impacted by drought restrictions because state regulations allow for water use to maintain their health, according to the report.
“No enforcement action will be taken on customers who are irrigating trees in order to keep them alive,” the report read.
This story was originally published August 19, 2022 at 3:34 PM.
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