Modesto reports 2nd month of solid water savings

Modesto is reporting a second solid month of saving water.

Water Systems Manager Dave Savidge said the city reduced its water use 32.4 percent in July. That follows a 34.1 percent reduction in June. The savings are based on comparing water use with the same month in 2013.

The state is requiring a 25 percent overall reduction in the amount of potable – or drinkable – water California cities use to help cope with a fourth year of drought. The state has mandated varying reductions among cities based on their past water use. Modesto has to reduce its water use 36 percent. The reductions started June 1 and run through February of next year.

The reductions are cumulative. That means a city can fall short of its mandated reduction in some months but make up for it with bigger savings in other months.

Savidge said Modesto has come close to the 36 percent reduction during hot summer months and expects to make up for any shortfalls with greater savings when the weather starts to cool in the fall.

But he encouraged water customers to continue to save water. He said the city will keep sending workers out to look for people violating the city’s Stage 2 drought restrictions or wasting water by over watering their landscaping and having water pour into the gutter. The restrictions limit outdoor watering to two days a week and ban watering from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Savidge said Modesto has increased the number of workers patrolling for water violations and waste to six and is changing the times when the patrols occur. The patrols will continue seven days a week.

“We are seeing an increase of usage as people see their lawns dying,” he said.

Modesto also is working on implementing another tool to save water – fining people who violate the restrictions or waste water. As part of adopting the Stage 2 restrictions in late April, the City Council also approved bigger fines, which top out at $500.

And while the city has identified potential violators and water wasters, it has not issued any fines. Savidge said earlier this week that the city was close to putting a system into place to issue the fines. One of the issues, he said, has been setting up a process for water customers to appeal their fines.

More information about the Stage 2 drought restrictions and the city’s cash-for-grass program, in which homeowners can receive up to $500 for replacing their lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping, is available at www.modestogov.com.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Modesto reports 2nd month of solid water savings."