As the ongoing drought in California worsens, Tuolumne Utilities District will enforce state-imposed restrictions that include mandatory prohibitions on certain types of water use and voluntary cutbacks on outdoor watering.
The agency that more than 33,000 Tuolumne County residents rely upon for water announced Friday that it has begun implementing “level II” of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan, as all water providers throughout the state were required to do by June 10 under an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom issued in March.
Level II conservation requirements prohibit TUD customers from using drinking water to wash impervious surfaces like driveways and sidewalks; for feeding decorative fountains, lakes, or ponds; or for irrigating turf, such as lawns, on public medians.
Customers also cannot wash vehicles without an automatic shutoff nozzle.
The district is also asking customers to voluntarily limit outdoor watering of lawns and other yard landscaping to two days per week and only before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. The district also requests that they repair any water leaks, breaks, or malfunctions of water systems in a timely manner, as well as avoid unintended runoff from all-outdoor watering.
Such voluntary and mandatory restrictions on water use haven’t been seen since the height of the previous drought from 2011 to 2017.
Don Perkins, general manager of TUD, said in a statement Friday responding to the restrictions that the district’s customers have reduced their overall water use over the past decade.
“When asked during the last drought period 2014-15, our customers unselfishly took extreme measures to reduce their water use and have since made sensible water conservation a way of life,” he said. “We want to thank our customers for their continued efforts to use water wisely during this drought period.”
The district’s level II requirements in its Water Shortage Contingency Plan also prohibit potable water from being used for street cleaning or preparing construction sites, though TUD says it will continue accommodating all “reasonable requests” to use water for construction.
When asked how the mandatory restrictions will be enforced, TUD said that it will “respond to obvious water waste and leaks.”
District officials have said that they anticipate having enough water to last through the end of the year, despite the area receiving very little rain and snow since record-breaking storms in late December.
“We have enough, but not an abundance of water for TUD,” Abby Parcon, administrative service director for TUD, said in responses to questions sent via email. “Most of Tuolumne County is in a D4 – exceptional drought condition, and the state is asking all California water uses to conserve.”
Parcon also said the district, like many other water agencies in the state, believe that conservation requirements should fit local conditions. However, she noted that these state-imposed restrictions are in response to statewide conditions — and all Californians are being asked to conserve.
