City of Ripon residents will now be limited on watering their lawns to twice a week.

That’s among the changes approved Thursday by the Ripon City Council on the emergency water conservation measures.

Elected leaders had until the end of this week to respond to Executive Order N-7-22, signed recently by Gov. Newsom to combat the serious statewide drought conditions.

Since 2018, Ripon has maintained certain mandatory water conservation measures. Director of Public Works James Pease noted at the special session that the direct impact of the new water shortage contingency plan is minimal compared to that of the City’s existing one.

Rather than three days per week, the newly passed resolution calls for all properties with an even address being allowed to do water landscaping on Tuesday and Saturday, from now through October.

Those with an odd address can do likewise but only on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Most of the other changes are pending for now until the July meeting.

“We need more information,” Councilman Leo Zuber said.

Included in the emergency regulations are businesses and places in town affected by “non-functional turf.”

Defined as turf serving as ornamental and not otherwise used for recreation purposes such as school fields, sports fields and parks. Commercial, industrial and institutional sectors with non-functional turf could be banned from watering.

Pease also mentioned the return of again shutting off the interactive water feature at Mistlin Sports Park and the two fountains on East Main Street (just off the Freeway 99 on / off ramp) and Milgeo Avenue.