The City of Ripon must reduce its water usage by 36 percent.
Using figures from 2013 as the base line, the Ripon City Council is scheduled to discuss ways to comply with the state’s additional conservation regulations and mandatory reductions at Tuesday’s meeting in the Council Chambers, 259 N. Wilma Ave.
By comparison, the state ordered Manteca to cut its water use by 32 percent. Ripon’s higher cutback number reflects its higher per capita water consumption.
“With our current water conservation efforts, we have averaged a reduction of combined portable and non-potable water use by 17 percent to date for 2015,” said Ted Johnston, director of public works. “We have recently received clarification from the State Water Board that our non-potable water does not need to be included as part of our total reported water use.
“We are currently revising our water use reports to the state will update the Council of the efforts of the revised reporting method.”
In order to increase awareness of the new water reduction requirements, the City has scheduled public workshops.
Banners and yard signs will be placed around the City to further remind residents to conserve water.
Information booths on the matter will be at the various festivals – Color the Skies, Main Street Days and Almond Festival – and flyers featuring conservation tips will be inserted in water bills.
The City, for their part, will reduce the water system pressure by 10 psi. The current pressure is 60 to 65 psi.
They’ll also look to discontinue the operation of the city fountains, including the splash park at Mistlin Sports Complex, which uses 1,500 gallons per day to 2,500 gallons per day, depending on the temperature, length of use and amount use.
In other agenda items:
• Council will recognize the Ripon City Golf Club of North Yorkshire, UK with a proclamation, celebrating 36 years of friendly competition.
• Elected leaders are scheduled to discuss keeping their meeting schedule to twice a month or changing over to once a month. Mayor Leo Zuber brought up the suggestion at the last meeting.
• Council could approve the agreement with the City and TPR Baseball for operation and maintenance of the Mistlin Sports Complex concessions at the softball park.
For more information, call the City of Ripon at 209.599.2108 or log on to www.cityofripon.org.
