Windsor Municipal Code Art. 8 Conservation of Water Supply

The purpose of this article is to conserve the water supply of the Town for the greatest public benefit with particular regard to public health, fire protection, and domestic use, to conserve water by reducing waste, and to the extent necessary by reason of the existing water shortage emergency condition to reduce water use fairly and equitably. This article is adopted pursuant to State law including Water Code Sections 350 to and including 358, and Sections 31026 to and including 31029 and Water Shortage Contingency Plan Water Code Section 10632.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 2)

(Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 1, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 1, 10-20-2021)

The terms used in this article shall have the following meanings:

a. Corresponding billing period means a similar billing period occurring in a prior designated year to which current water use is compared for the purpose of determining the percent reduction in use.

b. Drip system means an irrigation system downstream of a reduced pressure device fitted with drip emitters, bubblers or low pressure micro-jet sprayers.

c. ETo means evapotranspiration demand reported as reference evapotranspiration for each California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) weather station located in Sonoma and Marin Counties. (Local ETo data is available on the CIMIS website: http://wwwcimis.water.ca.gov/cimis/welcome.jsp)

d. ETo adjustment factor means a percent reduction for landscape irrigation set by resolution of the Windsor Town Council and used as a factor to multiply times ETo to determine the appropriate amount of sprinkler water to apply to turf grass, garden, landscaped area, trees, or shrubs while rationing is in effect. The amount of water to apply is found by multiplying the area of landscape to be irrigated (square ft.) times the appropriate ETo Adjustment Factor times the plant factor times ETo (inches for a given period of time—typically three (3) to seven (7) days) times seven point forty-eight over twelve (7.48/12) to convert to gallons.

e. Healthcare and public safety use means use of water by customers whose principal purpose is to provide health services to the public (such as hospitals, clinics, invalid and senior care facilities and homes, and doctor, dentist, optometrist and chiropractor offices, etc.) or which provide vital public safety services (such as police stations, jails, fire stations, utility services, etc.). Not included in this class are office buildings that provide solely administration services (such as health insurance organizations, etc.) or landscaping uses at any healthcare or public safety site.

f. Irrigation only use means water use downstream of a Town owned billing meter whose principal purpose and design is to serve irrigation use.

g. Overall mandatory rationing requirement means the percent reduction in overall withdrawals from the water system determined by the Town Council to be necessary in order to achieve and to safely survive the water shortage emergency.

h. Plant factor means the fraction of water lost from the plant relative to reference evapotranspiration.

i. Shop unit means a type of residential unit which is separately metered and which involves a dwelling unit that is incorporated into the premises of a business—sometimes also referred to as a shop house or live/work unit.

j. Sprinklers as used in this article means an irrigation sprinkler connected to a hose, irrigation sprinklers connected to an in-ground pipe system, and soaker hoses or porous pipelines operating off of normal service pressure.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 3; Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015)

This article shall be in effect immediately after the Town Council by resolution declares that a water shortage condition exists, shall supersede and control over any other ordinance or regulation of the Town in conflict herewith, and shall remain in effect until the Town Council declares by resolution that the water shortage emergency has ended and renders this article inactive until called upon again as future drought conditions may warrant.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 4)

(Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015)

a. After the General Manager/Town Manager declares that a water shortage condition exists, and the declaration is ratified by the Town Council by resolution, and this article becomes effective, and until the date the Town Council by resolution declares that the water shortage has ended, which period is hereinafter referred to as the "suspension period," no new or enlarged connection shall be made to the Town's water system except the following:

1. Connection of fire hydrants.

2. Connection of property previously supplied with water from a private water source (such as a well or spring) upon submittal and approval of the Town Engineer evidence that the private source has failed or dried up or has otherwise been impaired by the drought or water shortage event to such a degree that the source no longer can meet minimal potable water needs of the applicant.

3. During mandatory Levels 1 through 3, connection of property for which the applicant has obtained all approvals required for development (including a building permit), except potable water supply, and for which the applicant agrees to defer installation of turf landscaping until after the suspension period.

4. During mandatory Level 4, 5, and 6 water shortage emergency, connection of property for which the applicant has: (1) obtained all approvals required for development (including a building permit), except potable water supply; agrees to defer installation of turf landscaping until after the suspension period; and (2) either retrofits good quality water conservation fixtures and devices (one point twenty-eight (1.28) gallon per flush toilets, one point five (1.5) gallons per minute showerheads, and one point five (1.5) gallons per minute faucet aerators for kitchen sinks and lavatories) in five (5) existing single-family detached dwelling units served by the Town, or pays the Town one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) per equivalent single-family detached dwelling unit for which water service is being applied. These payments shall be used by the Town to help fund its expanded water conservation program efforts during the suspension period. If an applicant chooses the retrofit option and a selected home already has some water-conserving fixtures, the applicant shall install conservation fixtures in additional dwellings as determined necessary by the Town's Water Conservation Coordinator.

b. During the suspension period, applications for water service will be processed only if the applicant acknowledges in writing that such processing shall be at the risk and expense of the applicant and that if the application is approved in accordance with the Town's regulations, such approval shall confer no right upon the applicant or anyone else until the suspension period has expired, and that the applicant releases the Town from all claims of damage arising out of or in any manner connected with the suspension of connections.

c. Upon the termination of the suspension period, the Town will make connections to its water system in accordance with its regulations and the terms of connection agreements for all said applications approved during the suspension period. The water supply then available to the Town will be apportioned equitably among all the customers then being served by the Town without discrimination against services approved during the suspension period.

d. Nothing herein shall prohibit or restrict any modification, relocation, or replacement of a connection to the Town's system if the Town Engineer determines that the demand upon the Town's water supply will not be increased thereby.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 5; Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 2, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 2, 10-20-2021)

a. No water furnished by the Town shall be wasted. Waste of water includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Washing hard or paved surfaces is prohibited except to alleviate safety or sanitary hazards using a handheld container, hose with an automatic shut-off device, or a low-volume high-pressure cleaning machine that recycles used water.

2. Escape of water through breaks or leaks within the customer's plumbing or private distribution system for any substantial period of time within which such break or leak should reasonably have been discovered and corrected. The reasonable time within which to correct such break or leak or, as a minimum, to stop the flow of water from such break or leak shall be as established in the water shortage contingency plan currently in effect.

3. Watering vegetated areas in a manner that causes excessive water flow or runoff onto an adjoining sidewalk, driveway, street, alley, gutter, or ditch is prohibited. Every customer is deemed to have the customer's water system under control at all times, to know the manner and extent of the customer's water use and any runoff, and to employ available alternatives to apply irrigation water in a reasonably efficient manner.

4. No landscape watering shall occur within forty-eight (48) hours after measurable precipitation.

5. Washing or hosing down cars, boats, trailers or other vehicles is prohibited except by use of a handheld container, hose with an automatic shut-off device, or at a commercial car wash.

6. Cleaning, filling, or operating water features, such as decorative fountains, except where the water is part of a recirculating system.

7. Water for single-pass evaporative cooling systems for air conditioning in all connections installed after July 18, 2007, unless required for health or safety reasons.

8. Water for new non-recirculating conveyor car wash systems.

9. Water for new non-recirculating industrial clothes wash systems.

10. Lodging establishments must offer opt-out of linen service.

11. Water for construction dust control when recycled water is available.

b. Waste of water shall also include failure to put to reasonable beneficial use any water withdrawn from the Town's water system as determined by the Town Engineer.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 6; Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 3, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 3, 10-20-2021)

a. No water furnished by the Town shall be used for any purpose declared to be non-essential by this article. The restrictions in this section shall not apply to use of recycled wastewater furnished by a government agency.

b. At any and all times that a water shortage emergency condition is declared by the Town Council, as Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 water shortage emergency as set forth in the following table, all customers may be asked to either voluntarily or by mandate reduce consumption of water furnished by the Town, as specified by resolution of the Town Council, and all customers of the Town must adhere to implement actions as specified in the adopted Water Shortage Contingency Plan, as amended.

c. The District reserves the right to require additional mandatory measures beyond those in the Water Shortage Contingency Plan as determined by the District Board of Directors or Town Council.

d. Nothing in this chapter limits, or may be construed as limiting, the availability of water for extinguishing fires, meeting the demands of any other similar emergency, or routine inspection and maintenance of fire hydrants.

e. From and after the date that the Windsor Town Council declares that a Level 4, 5, or 6 water shortage emergency exists, and required mandatory water use reductions water use in excess of the following allotments established for each meter are in addition declared to be non-essential:

1. Residential meters serving single-family detached homes including mother-in-law or second units that are served by the same meter: the Town shall establish an allocation based on water supply availability that shall not exceed sixty-five (65) gallons per capita per day times the number of permanent occupants. Permanent occupants shall be a whole number. Babies, children, adults and senior citizens whose principal place of residence is in the dwelling in question shall each count as one (1) occupant. In determining the number of permanent occupants, the Town shall rely upon data it has acquired from the customer or other sources. Provided sufficient time is available, the Town will attempt to canvas customers to obtain current data on permanent household occupants. Alternatively, without sufficient data, the Town may assume the most recent published United States Census persons per household for an owner-occupied single-family detached dwelling unit as the basis for the allocation times the Town defined allocation of gallons per day per capita.

2. Residential meters serving multiple units: any use in excess of that resulting from application of the mandatory residential water use reduction established by the Windsor Town Council.

3. Irrigation only meters: any use in excess of that resulting from application of the mandatory irrigation water use reduction or occurring outside of the allowed hours and days of the week as established by resolution of the Windsor Town Council.

4. Meters serving any non-residential use (excluding irrigation only metered use and healthcare and public safety use): any use in excess of that resulting from application of the overall water use reduction established by the Windsor Town Council.

5. Meters serving water used for healthcare and public safety (excluding irrigation only use): any use in excess of the minimum amount required to adequately provide for healthcare and public safety.

6. Meters serving mixed uses: an allotment to be determined by the Town Engineer based upon the criteria contained in subsections e.1. through e.5. immediately above.

f. Any customer exceeding their allotment, based on metered billing records, shall be billed and required to pay a penalty established by the Master Fee Schedule at the time the mandatory Level 4, 5, or 6 water shortage emergency is declared. This penalty charge shall be waived for the first bill received after mandatory Level 4, 5, or 6 emergency is implemented and shall terminate the day the suspension period ends.

g. If a connection to the Town's system was not in existence or used in the corresponding billing period established for determination of the mandatory water use reduction requirement, the Town will estimate use in such year based on other historic records and/or water use by customers having similar end-uses.

h. In addition to the non-essential uses and restrictions detailed in this article, the Town Council may by resolution specify additional non-essential uses of water, or other mandatory water use restrictions or penalty fees during the shortage period, as may be required from time to time to conform to State and/or Sonoma County Water Agency declarations, regulations, and requirements with respect to water shortage and water conservation matters.

i. During a declared Level 6 water shortage emergency the Town Council may adopt, by resolution, additional water supply measures, including, but not limited to:

1. Restrictions on delivering water to new connections;

2. Increased fees related to penalties for wasteful use of water, or other provisions as necessary in accordance with the adopted Water Shortage Contingency Plan or other Sonoma County Water Agency or State mandate.

The District or Town Council may also adopt by resolution provisions for customer rationing of existing connections in accordance with California Water Code Sections 350-359 or other local or State mandate.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 7; Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 4, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 4, 10-20-2021)

The owner or occupant of any land within the water service area of the Town that is supplied with recycled wastewater or water from a source not owned or operated by the Town (such as a well, spring or legal surface diversion) which is used to irrigate landscape which is visible to the general public, will be requested to post and maintain in a conspicuous place thereon a sign furnished by the Town giving public notice of the private supply.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 8)

a. Any customer of the Town may use sprinklers to apply water furnished by the Town to irrigate any existing turfgrass, garden, landscaped area, trees or shrubs provided said application is properly controlled and performed in a non-wasteful and efficient manner confined to the days of the week specified by resolution of the Town Council and to the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. of the next day. In the event low-pressure micro-jet sprayers are present in a drip system, irrigation by the valve(s) controlling same shall also be confined to the hours noted above.

b. The amount of water normally required for landscape irrigation shall be reduced by a percent set by resolution of the Town Council and shall hereafter be known as the ETo Adjustment Factor. This condition shall not apply to residential customers if Level 3 water shortage emergency measures are implemented.

c. In determining the amount of water to apply to turfgrass, customers are encouraged to use the following formula:

The ETo Adjustment Factor is based on the assumption that overall irrigation efficiency is sixty-five (65%) percent and that the plant factor for turfgrass is one point zero (1.0). Use of this formula to determine applied water will yield the appropriate amount of water to apply while rationing is in effect.

d. In determining the amount of water to apply to landscaped areas containing a mixture of trees and shrubs, customers are encouraged to use the following formula:

The ETo Adjustment Factor is based on the assumption that overall irrigation efficiency is sixty-five (65%) percent and that the plant factor for mixed trees and shrubs is zero point six (0.6). Use of this formula to determine applied water will yield the appropriate amount of water to apply while mandatory water use restrictions are rationing is in effect.

e. Water applied by sprinklers shall be applied in short enough cycles to avoid run-off to gutters, drains, and other adjacent impervious areas.

f. During the suspension period, use of water by sprinklers is a privilege, and permission to use water in this way may be withdrawn if it comes to the attention of the District Engineer that such use by a given customer is wasteful or in excess of the amount determined in subsection (b) of this section. A common result of wasteful application of water by sprinklers is evidence of runoff to a gutter or other adjacent impervious area.

g. Use of water pursuant to this section may be curtailed or eliminated during periods of water shortage as set forth in the Water Shortage Contingency Plan currently in effect.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 9; Ord. No. 2015-290, § 2, 5-6-2015; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 5, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 5, 10-20-2021)

In unusual circumstances, application of this chapter may cause unnecessary hardships or results inconsistent with this chapter's purposes and intent. Therefore, variances to some of the requirements of this chapter may be appropriate as described below:

a. The General Manager may grant variances to water use restrictions provisions during a Level 1, 2, or 3 declared water shortage emergency as specified in [the] Water Shortage Contingency Plan. During [a] Level 4, 5, or 6 water emergency, as specified in the Water Shortage Contingency Plan, any previously granted variances shall be suspended without notice, unless they are based on a critical health need as determined by a licensed medical professional, with such determination being provided to the General Manager.

b. Customers who seek a variance from this chapter for any reason shall submit to the District a written request for variance, setting forth, in detail, the extraordinary circumstances that support the application. The General Manager may approve the application at their discretion; provided, that the variance allows the applicant to use only the minimum amount of water, in addition to that allowed by this chapter, that the General Manager reasonably believes is necessary to satisfy the circumstances that support the application. Any such variance shall terminate one (1) year after its issuance, subject to an application for its renewal.

c. Any customer of the Town may make a written application for a variance. Applications shall be addressed to:

Utility Billing Town of Windsor 9291 Old Redwood Highway P.O. Box 100 Windsor, CA 95492

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 10; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 6, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 6, 10-20-2021)

The goal of the provisions of this chapter is to achieve voluntary compliance from the customer, and the District will take reasonable measures to assure the customer has information available to promptly and efficiently address water use issues. Where voluntary compliance cannot be achieved through initial contacts and warnings, then appropriate administrative penalties and further action are required. Except as otherwise provided herein, violations of any provision of this chapter shall be addressed as follows:

a. Violations will be based on observation(s) and documentation of waste by District staff, including, but not limited to, evidence of continually running water by meter readings, physical inspection, and/or visual observation of the occurrence. Violations are subject to the enforcement provisions in Section 12-3-845.

b. It shall be unlawful for any customer to willfully tamper with or in any way modify or attempt to modify a Town meter or anything within the Town's meter box. Violation shall result in the customer being charged a meter tampering fee plus the cost of labor and materials to remedy any damage caused to the Town's equipment as a result of such tampering.

c. Anyone who willfully takes water from the Town water system without the Town's permission or who willfully tampers with or causes damage to any Town meter or water system appurtenance is liable to the Town in the sum of time and materials, plus citation for code violation, as a civil penalty, for each subsequent act during the suspension period. This sum shall be recoverable by a civil suit in a court of competent jurisdiction. This section does not limit the Town's right to recover the cost of any Town water taken without the Town's permission.

d. All customer fees required by this section shall be set by a resolution of the Town.

e. There shall be no appeal of the water use restrictions identified in [this] chapter or Water Shortage Contingency Plan. Any appeal of other decisions shall be appealable in writing to the General Manager and if still unresolved a second appeal may be sent in writing to the District Board of Directors.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 11; Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 7, 7-21-2021; Ord. No. 2021-77-WWD, § 7, 10-20-2021)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 2021-76 WWD, § 7, adopted July 21, 2021, amended the title of § 12-3-845 to read as herein set out. The former § 12-3-845 title pertained to enforcement and fees.

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this article is for any reason held to be invalid, the validity of the remaining portion of this article shall not be affected.

(Ord. No. 2007-218 § 12)