TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
ITEM:		ACTION ITEM
3.	DEVELOP RECOMMENDATION ON AN URGENCY ORDINANCE AMENDING REGULATIONS XIV, WATER CONSERVATION, AND REGULATION XV, EXPANDED WATER CONSERVATION AND STANDBY RATIONING PLAN
Meeting Date:			March 27, 2014	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Stephanie Pintar	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: To be completed prior to first reading
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/S

SUMMARY: Staff is proposing an urgency ordinance at the April 2014 Board meeting to clean up several outdated areas of the Expanded Water Conservation and Standby Rationing Plan and to make minor changes to increase the effectiveness of the program. Urgency exists because (1) the rebate program requires immediate amendments as the program will be winding down during the summer and there were extraordinary circumstances that prevented certain Non-Residential water users from completing retrofits before the end of 2013; (2) the Rebate account is the appropriate fund for providing financial incentives to remove large irrigated public lawns from the California American Water system to reduce demand during the statewide drought and during the Cease and Desist Order; (3) the Board reviews the need for rationing in May and the rules currently contain outdated numbers; (4) the District and California American Water approved new watering days to simplify enforcement and understanding and this change needs to be codified. An urgency ordinance takes effect immediately and expires after one year.

The following points summarize the proposed changes:

1. The Rebate Program (Rule 141) will be amended to allow more than 20 toilets to be replaced on a publicly-owned Site.

2. Rebates for High Efficiency Clothes Washers (HECW) at Non-Residential Sites will be reinstated until June 1 due to limited availability of Commercial HECW at the end of 2013 when the Non-Residential efficiency requirements were enacted.

3. The maximum Lawn removal Rebate will be increased for permanent removal of irrigated Lawns at public Sites on a case-by-case basis when approved by the Board.

4. Triggers for entering and exiting Stages 4-7 are outdated and no longer applicable. The usable storage numbers in Rules 164, 165, 166 and 167, date back almost ten years and no longer accurately reflect the amount of supply needed by the community. The urgency ordinance will replace the existing target numbers with a table that can be amended annually by resolution of the Board. Use of revised target numbers for determining the need for rationing has been the standard practice during the past ten years.

5. Rule 161-A, Stage 1 Water Conservation, should be amended for consistency with Rule 161-B. The current language is outdated. The amendment is shown in bold (added language) and strikeout (deleted language).

a. California American Water shall maintain its Water Year (October 1 through September 30) production from the Carmel River System in compliance with regulatory restrictions imposed on the Carmel River basin below 11,285 Acre-Feet (20 percent below historical production as determined in 1995).

6. Rule 172-E, Landscape Irrigation Restrictions, will be updated to reflect the new two-day per week watering schedule of Wednesdays and Saturdays.

RECOMMENDATION: The Technical Advisory Committee should review the proposed amendments and recommend approval to the Board. The ordinance will be provided to California American Water and the Office of Ratepayer Advocates at the Public Utilities Commission.

EXHIBITS

None

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