Newport increases watering days to 3 while still requiring conservation

Newport Beach water customers will soon be able to irrigate outdoors three days a week instead of two, but they’ll still have to conserve.

The City Council voted 6 to 0 this week to move the city to Level 2 of its water conservation plan, which restricts outdoor watering to before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. but allows ratepayers to irrigate their lawns three days per week from April through October.

Outdoor watering from November through March would be restricted to one day per week.

Municipal Operations Director George Murdoch said that the city will assign residents specific watering days, and that customers will be expected to cut their water use by 15% monthly, compared with the same months in 2013.

“We do feel it is a prudent thing to do to continue to conserve until the statewide drought is over,” Murdoch said.

The new regulations will take effect July 22.

Customers can look up their watering days by visiting the city’s website at www.newportbeachca.gov/water.

For the past year the city has operated at Level 3 of its water conservation plan, which restricts outdoor watering to two days a week from April through October. It also requires households and businesses to fix water leaks within 24 hours of their discovery and reduce their monthly use by 25% compared with 2013.

The council voted last month to move forward with loosening water restrictions but was required under city rules to vote on the matter twice before the new regulations could be put in effect.

The council’s decision follows the State Water Resources Control Board’s vote in May mandating that urban water providers have a three-year supply of water available — assuming three more dry years. Agencies can set their own conservation standards if needed to meet that mark.

Previously, the state had set specific conservation targets for local water agencies.

“Drought conditions are far from over but have improved enough that we can step back from our unprecedented top-down target setting,” state water board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus said in a statement.

Newport Beach, like many other Orange County water providers, would have enough water available under the state standard to set its conservation level at zero, Murdoch said. But because an emergency could deplete water reservoirs, the Municipal Water District of Orange County has asked all suppliers to set a minimum 10% conservation rate.

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Murdoch proposed a 15% rate for Newport Beach.

“If the drought continues longer, we could deplete most of the water supply we have, which isn’t a good way to manage our system,” he said. “We need to continue with conservation to leave some of those supplies intact.”

The city, which serves 66,219 water customers, had struggled month after month to reduce its water use to meet its original 28% conservation target. The state agreed to lower Newport’s mandate to 21% earlier this year.

The city’s overall water use in May was 27.3% lower than in the same month in 2013, putting its cumulative reduction at 22%.

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Fry writes for Times Community News.

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