City staff has recommended the city council adopt the state’s
Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance designed to ensure
efficient water use for large landscape projects and eliminate
waste, as required by state law.
City staff has recommended the city council adopt the state’s Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance designed to ensure efficient water use for large landscape projects and eliminate waste, as required by state law.
The ordinance establishes “a maximum applied water allowance as an upper limit for water use with the objective of reducing water use to the lowest practical amount.”
The Water Conservation in Landscaping Act of 2006 requires local agencies to adopt either the state’s model ordinance or a different ordinance that is at least as effective in conserving water, no later than January 1, 2010. The city staff recommended adopting the state law rather than trying to develop a new ordinance at this time. Without action, the state rules would go into effect by default.
The complex 30-page ordinance – designed for use by developers, designers and professional landscapers – generally applies to new construction and rehabilitated landscapes whose areas exceed 2,499 square feet and that require a building or landscape permit, plan check or design review. Existing landscapes and irrigation systems will not be forced to retrofit under the law unless there is a renovation. A number of special conditions and exemptions, however, will require careful analysis in determining the ordinance’s applicability.
It requires irrigation systems be “designed to prevent runoff, low head drainage, overspray, or other similar conditions where irrigation water flows onto non-targeted areas, such as adjacent property, non-irrigated areas, hardscapes, roadways, or structures.” These restrictions, among others, favor drip irrigation and similar direct application methods over sprays in most applications.
City manager Clint Quilter said he hoped to work with other regional water users in the future to establish uniform rules and regulations on the issues covered by the law. In the interim, the city may have to rely on the county Water Resources Association for administration and enforcement of it.
The association is a nonprofit corporation governed by representatives from the City of Hollister, the City of San Juan Bautista, Sunnyslope County Water District and the San Benito County Water District. Quilter noted, however, that the association probably is not sufficiently staffed to support these new requirements.
