Water Conservation To Continue

With summer heat, people want to use water more often yet the drought in California necessitates water conservation. With this situation in mind, the City Council on July 13 adopted a resolution declaring the existence of Level 2 water supply shortage conditions and implementing mandatory conservation requirements per Chapter 5.03, Water Conservation of the Culver City Municipal Code.

In April the council considered public input and information by city staff and directed the City Manager to place on a future agenda the appropriate documents to implement Level 2 restrictions as set forth in Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Section 5.03.040.

At another meeting on June 22 the council discussed the proposed resolution and the proposed ordinance. As a result of that discussion, staff submitted a revised ordinance. This included an amendment dealing with conservation of water for swimming pools in Culver City.

The amended ordinance deletes restrictions relating to filling or refilling swimming pools or spas but instead includes a requirement for pool owners to utilize pool covers for residential swimming pools.

Steven Murray, an advocate for water conservation, thanked the council and the city for their work on the issue. He noted that he had counted “107 pools in the city” but that the city seemed to be in “pretty good shape” with its plan to conserve.

Jim Clarke asked staff what the timeline was for homeowners to implement the utilization of pool covers.

Public Works director Charles Herbertson replied that “once the ordinance in is place, it will take time for people to make changes.”

Clarke still pressed for a “drop dead date” for implementation.

“Our typical approach,” continued Herbertson, “is, as part of approved water conservation, to set aside some money for public notification.” He observed that if people seem to be ignoring the ordinance, then “we’d work on code enforcement.”

Speaker Alan Goldman mentioned a study that conservation activists are doing in cooperation with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to discover what type of pool cover is best.

But Herbertson said: “Any pool cover is better than no cover.”

Regular water conservation measures already in place under Level I include a requirement to fix leaks within 72 hours, to limit watering to three days a week, and to one day a week from November through March.

Level 2 restrictions include watering limited to two days a week (one day a week November through March), leaks to be fixed within 48 hours, no filling or refilling ornamental lakes and ponds unless needed to sustain aquatic life, and prohibition of refilling more than one foot of residential swimming pools and outdoor spas with potable (drinkable) water.

In other actions, the council postponed to the July 27 meeting a decision on a reimbursement agreement for completed and approved design services for the Town Plaza improvement project.