Behold! Plan 1:
Water Shortage Plan I (PMC 13.10.040)
All persons and customers of the department shall, on a voluntary basis, reduce water usage by taking the following water conservation measures:
A. Refrain from hosing or washing sidewalks, walkways, driveways, parking areas or other paved surfaces;
B. Refrain from cleaning, filling, or maintaining levels in decorative fountains, ponds, lakes, and similar structures unless such structure is equipped with a water recycling system;
C. Refrain from serving drinking water, unless at the express request of a customer, in all restaurants, hotels, cafes, cafeterias, or other public places where food is sold, served or offered for sale;
D. Promptly repair all leaks from indoor and outdoor plumbing fixtures, including but not limited to sprinkler systems;
E. Refrain from allowing water to run off landscape areas into adjoining streets, sidewalks, parking lots or alleys;
F. Refrain from allowing water to run off into adjoining streets, sidewalks, parking lots or alleys while washing vehicles;
G. Refrain from landscape watering more often than once every 3 days;
H. Refrain from landscape watering between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.;
I. Refrain from filling or refilling a swimming pool. (Ord. 6289 § 1 (part), 1988: Ord. 6275 § 1 (part), 1988)
Conserve now, lest ye force yon eldritch administrators to invoke the dire machinations of Plan 2, or worst yet, The Plan Which Must Not Be Named (Hint: 3).
First we have a headline that sucks any life out of a story to ensure that nobody could possibly want to read it: Agency to seek water-use rules
PASADENA -- With a "perfect drought" already in progress, the city hopes to discourage water wastrels by first asking nicely.
Facing a reduced water supply as soon as next year, Pasadena Water and Power will ask the City Council on Monday to declare a water shortage and approve what will initially be a voluntary conservation plan.
"We're asking customers to enact these nine, very specific measures to save water," said PWP's Nancy Long, who oversees the department's water conservation program. "One of the reasons we're starting out with voluntary recommendations is to give both our residential and commercial customers the opportunity to change their behavior without penalties and fines."
The recommendations range from the obvious to the mildly inconvenient: don't irrigate driveways and sidewalks, rein in run-off, and keep plants on the edge of thirst with a goal of reducing the city's water consumption by 10 percent.
If that isn't reached, PWP could ask the council to adopt "Plan 2," which would mandate conservation and possibly attach penalties and fees.
The current water crunch is the worst the municipal utility has faced in 16 years, Long said.
Cities throughout the state are considering similar or more stringent conservation plans because nearly all water sources - the
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Colorado River, Sacramento Bay Delta and local aquifers - are suffering.
Call it a perfect storm - or lack thereof, said Metropolitan Water District Chairman Tim Brick.
"Generally, when we've faced this kind of a situation it's been because one system or another is dry," Brick said. "You put it all together - drought on the Colorado River, drought in Southern California, an environmental crash in the delta - and it's a perfect drought," Brick said.
The delta isn't dry, but what Brick described as a "crash" of key animal species, such as the Delta smelt, has prompted a federal judge to order pumping curtailed.
Pasadena gets 60 percent of its water from the MWD, much of which comes from the delta.
About a quarter of the water flowing from the MWD now comes from reserves, and the agency could be forced to reduce supply to cities such as Pasadena, Brick said.
Assemblyman Mike Eng, who serves on the department's Committee on Water, said many of the region's economic gains could be jeopardized if cities don't get serious about water conservation.
"We need to rethink a lot of the old ideas that we once had before that it's limitless and virtually cost-free," Eng said.
The best housing, business and transportation planning could be undone by poor resource management, he added.
"If we forget to address the issue of water, virtually none of the economic benefits of our economic development will be rewarded," Eng said.
More than conservation, he hopes to see efforts to recycle water and tap into local aquifers "about the size of Lake Tahoe," much of which would require cleaning.
For Pasadena, a reduced supply from the MWD could trigger Plan2.
"If in the future MWD changes our allocation of water then that might automatically throw us into mandatory conservation," Long said.
But citizens need not fear jackbooted water cops clocking their shower times, she added, even if Pasadena is forced into "Plan 3."
"We're not planning any arrests," Long said, laughing. "But if we go to all the way to Plan 3, which goes beyond these nine measures, there could be penalties."
Water conservation was at the heart of updated guidelines recommended Tuesday by the Environmental Advisory Commission for the city's Green Building program.
Commission Chairman Michael Hurley said conservation is a good first step that must be followed with discussion of efficiency-based rate changes and higher standards for existing buildings.
To read PWP's water-saving suggestions while they're still optional, visit http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/waterandpower.
todd.ruiz@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444
www.insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics
