Residents in the City of Ripon continue to keep close tabs on their water usage.

This is part of the water conservation ordinance enacted in 2018. Director of Public Works James Pease provided the recent updates at the Dec. 13 Ripon City Council meeting, using the 2013 pre-drought water levels as a base-line comparison measurement.

He also used the past year-to-date comparison.

Ripon, in October, saw its water usage down 10 percent from the 2013 figures, but was 13 percent above the October 2021 numbers.

In November, residents did even better as water usage was down 21 percent from 2013, but was 15 percent above the 2021 numbers.

Pease mentioned to elected leaders that the Water Conservation Coordinator has been on patrol, issuing 147 warnings, including 24 water leak notices and six penalty assessments in November.

“The Water Conservation Coordinator has made contact with the businesses eligible for the non-functional turf loan program and will be sending formal letters and fliers to those businesses to see if there is any interest,” Pease added.

In August, the City offered loans to non-residential property owner to install on-site non-potable waste service connections. The purpose of this type of irrigation system is for the maintenance of non-functional turf during the on-going drought.