ITEM:

INFORMATIONAL ITEM/STAFF REPORT

 

17.

WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 2025 

 

Meeting Date:

March 17, 2025

Budgeted: 

N/A

 

From:

David J. Stoldt,

Program/

N/A

 

General Manager

Line Item No.

 

Prepared By:

Kyle Smith

Cost Estimate:

N/A

 

General Counsel Review: N/A

Committee Recommendation: N/A

CEQA Compliance:  This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378.

 

The following information reflects activities undertaken by the Water Demand Division during the month of February 2025.

 

I.       MANDATORY WATER CONSERVATION RETROFIT PROGRAM

District Regulation XIV requires the retrofit of water fixtures upon Change of Ownership or Use with High Efficiency Toilets (HET) (1.28 gallons-per-flush), 2.0 gallons-per-minute (gpm) Showerheads, 1.2 gpm Washbasin faucets, 1.8 gpm Kitchen, Utility, and Bar Sink faucets, and Rain Sensors on all automatic Irrigation Systems.  Property owners must certify the Site meets the District’s water efficiency standards by submitting a Water Conservation Certification Form (WCC), and a Site inspection is occasionally conducted to verify compliance. Properties that do not require an inspection are issued a Conservation Certification document.

 

A.    Changes of Ownership

Information is obtained monthly from Realquest.com on properties transferring ownership within the District. The information is compared against the properties that have submitted WCCs.  Details on 50 property transfers that occurred were added to the database.    

 

B.     Certification

The District received 52 Water Conservation Certification Forms. Data on ownership, transfer date, and status of water efficiency standard compliance were entered into the database.

 

C.     Verification

22 properties were verified compliant with Rule 144 (Retrofit Upon Change of Ownership or Use).  Of the 22 verifications, 8 properties verified compliance by submitting certification forms and/or receipts. District staff completed 28 Site inspections. Of the 28 properties visited, 14 (50%) passed.

 

D.    Non-Residential Compliance with Water Efficiency Standards

By January 1, 2014, all Non-Residential properties were required to meet Rule 143, Water Efficiency Standards for Existing Non-Residential Uses. District inspectors performed no verification inspections. 

 

As part of the Non-Residential compliance effort, MPWMD notifies California American Water (Cal-Am) of properties with landscaping. Cal-Am staff then schedules an outdoor audit to verify compliance with the Rate Best Management Practices (BMPs). (Compliance with MPWMD’s Rule 143 achieves Rate BMP compliance for indoor water uses.) Properties with landscaping must comply with Cal-Am’s outdoor Rate BMPs to avoid rates in Division 4 (customers that are not in compliance with Rate BMPs). Rate BMPs are used to determine the appropriate Non-Residential rate division for each customer (there are four different rates based on the amount of irrigated area and compliance/noncompliance with the Rate BMPs). 

 

MPWMD referred no property to Cal-Am for verification of outdoor Rate BMPs.

 

E.     Water Waste Enforcement

The District has a Water Waste Hotline 831-658-5653 or an online form to report Water Waste occurrences at www.mpwmd.net or www.montereywaterinfo.org. There was one Water Waste responses during the past month. There were no repeated incidents that resulted in a fine.

 

II.    WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT

 

A.    Permit Processing

District Rule 23 requires a Water Permit application for all properties that propose to expand or modify water use on a Site, including New Construction and Remodels. District staff processed and issued 73 Water Permits.  Four permits were issued using Water Entitlements (Pebble Beach Company, Malpaso Water, Sand City, etc.). No permits involved a debit to a Public Water Credit account. Thirteen Meter Split Permits and five Hydrant Meter Permits were issued.

 

District Rule 24-3-A allows the addition of a second Bathroom in an existing Dwelling Unit that has only one Bathroom. Of the 73 Water Permits issued, three were issued under this provision.

 

B.     Permit Compliance 

Staff completed 29 site inspections during February. Nineteen properties passed the interior inspection, and four properties failed due to unpermitted fixtures. Seven properties were inspected to complete a Landscape Water Permit: one failed.

 

C.     Close the Open Permits Project

Staff sent out 68 open permit letters during February. One hundred eighteen properties were inspected to close open permits.  eighty nine of the 118 inspected passed and 29 failed. In February eight permits were amended using the District Reserve. 

 

D.    Notary Services

District staff provided Notary services for 26 customers.

 

E.     Rebates

The District processes rebate applications to ensure that only voluntary replacement of higher efficiency devices receive rebates. The comprehensive list of available rebates can be found in Rule 141. Monthly statistics are shown on the following page.

 

EXHIBIT

17-A    Rebate report for January 2025

17-B    Rabate report for February 2025

 

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