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Manteca plan aims for 20% water cutback
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You will reduce your water use.

The California Legislature so decreed in 2009 as Senate Bill X7-7 signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown requires residential per capital urban consumption of water to drop by 10 percent by Dec. 31, 2015 and 20 percent by Dec. 31, 2020.

That was before Brown in January asked Californians to Immediately start working toward a 20 percent reduction in water use with the state being well into a third year of severe drought.

To meet the state mandate, the Manteca City Council has hired Kennedy/Jenks Consultants for $131.120 to prepare the 2015 Urban Water Management Plan Update as required under state law.

It will address the use of recycled wastewater to help the city reduce overall residential per capita water consumption by 20 percent.  Cities get credit toward the reduction goal by using recycled water as well as capturing and reusing rain water.

Commercial, industrial and institutions such as school districts and cities must reduce water use by 10 percent by the time Dec. 31, 2020 rolls around.

The management plan is expected to include tougher water conservation rules than the ones currently in place in Manteca.

Manteca has been working toward meeting the governor’s emergency request for a 20 percent reduction in water use due to the drought.

Preliminary data shows Manteca water use was down 5 percent in May while population was up 2 percent. The actual per capita reduction is just under 7 percent so far.

In February — the month after the governor’s emergency declaration — overall water use was actually up in Manteca.