Modesto’s water cops on the drought beat

In the early morning hours while Modesto sleeps, Terry Phillips is behind the wheel of his city-issued Ford F-250 utility truck creeping through dark neighborhoods at 10 to 15 mph with his windows open.

That’s so he can hear the distinctive hiss of sprinklers watering lawns.

“You want to hear the sprinklers,” said Phillips, a water distribution operator, “and then you pull over. You are not jamming through the neighborhoods. You can hear them really clearly with your windows down.”

He is among Modesto’s water division employees who are out from 3 to 7 a.m. weekdays looking for homes, businesses, shopping centers, schools, parks and other water users not complying with the city’s stage-2 drought restrictions because they are watering on the wrong day or overwatering, with water drenching sidewalks and driveways and pouring into gutters.

As many as six employees are checking in the early morning hours throughout Modesto and the surrounding communities, such as Salida and Waterford, that use city water. After the patrols, they resume their normal duties.

Although the stage-2 restrictions took effect May 1, the early morning patrols did not start until May 18 so the city could first educate the public about the restrictions. The restrictions reduced the number of days for outdoor watering from three to two each week and raised the fines for violations to as much as $500.

The water division also has an after-hours employee whose duties including looking for water violations and who recently started weekend patrols. Modesto is considering changing the times of some of its patrols, but the morning checks will continue.

The city’s water division employees have been busy as Modesto conserves water during California’s fourth year of a dismal drought.

The division received 4,490 complaints about potential water wasters and violators from April 1 through June 22 compared with 2,366 complaints during the same time last year.

“I think more people are more aware and the drought is getting more real,” Water Conservation Specialist Juan Tejeda said.

He said the city has identified more than 500 water customers since May 18 who could be fined for violating the restrictions because the city has been to the water customer’s address at least twice. The city’s first notice of violation is a warning; the fines don’t start until the second notice.

The city must determine how many of these customers violated the restrictions and how it will impose the fines. The city is looking at putting the fines on monthly utility bills. It also needs to set up a process for customers who want to challenge their notices. Water Systems Manager Dave Savidge said he expects everything to be in place by early July for the city to start imposing fines.

Modesto issued two $50 fines last year for water violators, one in July and the second in August.

The stepped-up enforcement comes after Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order April 1 calling for a 25 percent statewide reduction in urban water use. This is the first time a California governor has imposed mandatory reductions on cities and towns.

The reduction is for potable, or drinkable, water and went into effect June 1; it is based on 2013 levels. The state has mandated different reductions based on a city’s residential water use as calculated on a per-person basis. The more water used, the bigger the reduction.

Modesto and many other San Joaquin Valley cities are required to cut their consumption by 36 percent, which is the biggest reduction. City officials say Modesto’s water customers reduced their consumption 36.5 percent in May and 33.5 percent June 1-24.

Savidge said that is good news, but he and other city officials worry water customers may backslide as temperatures rise. He said water use spiked more than 16 percent Wednesday compared with the same day in 2013. He said Wednesday was the first time daily water use increased since the stage-2 restrictions went into effect May 1.

“People are starting to see their lawns brown and they may be panicking,” he said. “People could be tempted (not to follow the drought restrictions) because of these hotter days. So we have the concern, but we are optimistic that people will continue to conserve.”

Phillips said he has issued a few to as many as 30 notices on each patrol, though he said he is writing fewer notices than when he started the patrols. City officials said that trend is true for the other water division employees who conduct the patrols.

Phillips is assigned to northwest Modesto, Salida and Del Rio. It takes him two to three days to check all the water customers in that area, and then he starts over. He issued 11 notices during his Wednesday patrol. Primarily, they were for watering on the wrong day, though some were for overwatering. Phillips took photos of each violation and wrote up the notices, which would be delivered later in the day.

One homeowner who received a notice for overwatering was perplexed. She said her gardener recently reprimanded her for not watering enough and letting much of her lawn turn brown, so she increased her watering. The lawn still had patches of brown early Wednesday, but water from the sprinklers was soaking her driveway and sidewalk and pouring into the gutter. The homeowner – who asked that her name not be used – said she’ll have the sprinklers checked.

“There was no malice,” she said about the overwatering.

Phillips said the general rule is the city won’t issue a notice unless an employee witnesses the violation. So the city generally won’t issue a notice if someone calls in a neighbor for watering on the wrong day but the sprinklers are off when the employee arrives, even if the grass is wet. But the employee will leave a watering schedule at the home or business and talk to someone if possible.

Near the end of his patrol Wednesday, Phillips took photos of a roughly 10-by-30-foot puddle that was about a half-inch deep on the basketball court at the city’s McKinney Colony Park, near Pelandale Avenue and Prescott Road. Nearby park sprinklers were the culprit. Phillips said he would call the parks department to fix the problem.

“We should be the utmost in compliance,” he said about the city setting a good example.

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Modesto’s water cops on the drought beat."