Northern California city enters ‘severe’ water shortage protocols, adding restrictions
Yuba City will impose mandatory water cutbacks, entering “severe shortage” restrictions in the coming weeks and becoming one of the first Northern California jurisdictions to do so.
Outdoor watering will be reduced to Mondays and Thursdays; residents must use a hose with a shut-off nozzle; and non-recirculating fountains may not be operated, the city said in a news release Thursday evening.
The city of about 70,000 will begin an educational campaign on these restrictions May 1 and will start enforcing them as water violations on June 1.
“This is a direct response to the current water supply shortage occurring with the ongoing drought and the recent issuance of a state executive order calling for 20% water conservation compared to 2020 usage,” city officials said.
Urban water suppliers in California are required by law to have a water shortage contingency plan. Most suppliers, including Yuba City, follow a blueprint from the state Department of Water Resources that includes six levels of gradually increasing cutbacks.
Yuba City in Thursday’s news release said it is entering Level 3 out of six, which its contingency plan describes as conserving “up to 30%.”
At Level 2 (“moderate shortage”), Yuba City targeted conservation of up to 20% but mostly relied on voluntary reduction by customers. Level 3 strengthens those protocols from optional to mandatory, in an effort to conserve a minimum of 20%.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in an executive order late last month called upon water suppliers to enter at least Level 2 of their plans, and instructed the State Water Resources Control Board to consider strengthening this recommendation to a requirement. The board plans to vote on those emergency regulations at a May 24 meeting.
Newsom also urged water suppliers to go beyond Level 2 restrictions, if appropriate, as California enters its third year of severe drought conditions.
Most urban water districts in the state, including those in the immediate Sacramento area, have already entered at least Level 2 in response to the drought.
Yuba City’s elevation of restrictions comes the same week that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced a dramatic curtailing for some 6 million residents served by water districts that depend on California’s State Water Project. Those new restrictions limit outdoor watering to one day a week.
Yuba City, the seat of Sutter County, is one of three water districts in Northern California, excluding the Bay Area, that has a contract with the State Water Project. The other two are the water districts of Butte and Plumas counties.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
