State Water Districts May See Stricter Water Restrictions

Green turf in front of large businesses will soon be turning brown across the state. In 10 days commercial and industrial turf watering will be banned if approved by the Office of Administrative Law. This comes on the heels of Governor Gavin Newsom’s March 28th Executive order for emergency water conservation. The ban will not include grass used for recreational or community use or water used at your home. Yet the regulation would require water suppliers to start conservation efforts under a level 2 of their Water Shortage Contingency Plan. According to the Public Works Director for the City of Susanville, Bob Godman, the city has increased its water storage capacity with new additional above-ground storage tanks, and the purchase of the Berry reservoir increases capacity by 1 million gallons. This increase helps the city save time in having to implement such water restrictions. Hamilton Branch CSD as of last week implemented a level 1 of their conservation plan restricting homes from watering landscapes for more than 30 minutes on their designated watering days. The level 2 restrictions are proposed the take effect by June 10th.