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COMING SOON: ONLY TWO DAYS TO WATER
water north
Grass being irrigated along North Street in June.

The days of legally being able to water landscaping on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays in Manteca are numbered.

The City Council when they meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. is expected to adopt sweeping water conservation measures as California continues to slips deeper into drought.

The cornerstone for the biggest water savings is reducing the days set aside for residential landscape irrigation while at the same time virtually banning the allowance of any runoff onto sidewalks driveways, streets, and cutters.

Also, watering of outside landscaping will be outright banned at commercial, institutional, and industrial settings with exceptions tied to community use.

The new rules are expected to be adopted as an emergency measure meaning they will go into effect immediately.  

That means even-numbered addresses will be allowed to irrigate on Tuesday and Saturday. Odd-numbered addresses will be allowed to irrigate on Wednesday and Sunday. No irrigation will be allowed on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

The goal is to reduce the city’s overall water use by 20 percent.

Outdoor water use accounts for roughly half of the water use in Manteca. The lion’s share of that goes to irrigate grass.

The current rule that allows for runoff into gutters for no more than five minutes is being scratched. The new rule prohibits it from going onto sidewalks — public and private — streets, driveways, or adjoining property.

Besides preventing obvious water waste, it also puts residents on notice that they cannot simply increase lawn watering on the days they are allowed to irrigate. In many cases they will need to cutback on the times they do irrigate if they have been sending any runoff into gutters.

The city had made it clear that while they intend to be reasonable they will slap fines after initial warnings on people not complying to the new rules.

Manteca, if there is universal compliance, could easily reduce the water volume used specifically to irrigate lawns by 40 percent.

Turf at commercial, industrial and institutional locations such as hospitals longer will be able to be irrigated with potable water except for carved out exceptions where it is used for recreation and such.

The  new rules make exceptions for the golf course, Manteca Unified schools, and other locations allowed for under the state emergency order issued June 10.

Recreational activities that require a constant flow of water will also be prohibited.

Staff at a previous council meeting referenced Slip ‘n’ Slides as one use that would be banned. It wasn’t clear whether that included large inflatable slides that are rented for kids’ parties that involve water flowing non-stop down the slides.

The proposed ordinance would also:

 *Exempt City of Manteca golf course and facilities, Manteca Unified School District, private parks, and other landscaped areas greater than 4 acres from the scheduled watering days.

*Exempt landscape irrigation exclusively using drip or micro spray systems from the scheduled watering days.

*Restrict evaporative coolers without a recycled pump.

The city ordinance calls for a warning on the first offense, a $50 fine on the second offense, a $100 fine on the third offense, and a $250 fine on every offense thereafter.

During the 2015 drought, the city slapped $1,200 plus on one homeowner before they complied with the rules.

As part of their enforcement effort, the city has just added a hotline (209-456-8410) for citizens to call to report violations of the drought rules in addition to online reporting.

Manteca must reduce its water use by 20 percent — as do other jurisdictions throughout the state — to comply with the emergency order issued by the state.

If the rules don’t get the desired reduction and/or the drought continues to deepen there are two more stages that the state has in place with the most severe being the rationing of water if it comes to that.

 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com