35 Gallons Per Person and No Lawn Watering Between 9 am and 6 pm
The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Board approved new water conservation rules on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, which went into effect April 15.
In a move aimed at complaints of differential treatment of various residential customers a flat rate indoor use goal was adopted for all EBMUD residential customers, recognizing that some have already cut their indoor use through drastic conservation measures. (For example, recapturing shower water to flush toilets.)
Two-thirds of EBMUD’s single family residential customers use less than 7,500 gallons per month. The highest one percent of water using households use 45,000 gallons per month.
The new goal for residential customers is to limit indoor water consumption to 35 gallons per person per day. This will entail change of habits for some customers since the estimated daily water flow for two occupants even with energy flow toilets, faucets and shower heads exceeds the goal without including laundry or the use of a dishwasher:
10 gallons = 6 flushes of a low flow toilet
20 gallons = 2 five minute low flow showers
80 gallons = twenty minutes of low flow sink faucet for hand-washing, teeth brushing, cooking and food/pots/dishes rinsing or washing by hand.
(Estimates provided by averaging several water use calculators.)
Due to the status of rain totals and snowpack, EBMUD declared a Stage 4 critical drought, the highest stage, and set a community-wide goal to reduce water use by 20% compared to 2013.
In addition to the indoor limit of 35 gallons per person per day, EBMUD has adopted strict outdoor water use rules:
- Lawn watering on no more than two non-consecutive days per week with no runoff.
- Lawn watering only before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m.
- Lawn watering prohibited after rainstorms: no watering allowed within 48 hours of measurable rainfall.
- Use only hoses with shutoff nozzles to wash vehicles.
- Use a broom or air blower, not water, to clean hard surfaces such as driveways and sidewalks, except as needed for health and safety purposes.
- Turn off fountains or decorative water features unless the water is recirculated.
For more information on the drought and ways to save water go to: https://www.ebmud.com/water-and-wastewater/latest-water-supply-update
How do they distinguish between water for personal use and irrigation? In other words, how do they monitor compliance if the only gauge of usage is combined or total usage measured at the meter monthly and includes both uses? Why limit indoor usage and allow unlimited outdoor usage so long as it is not used for a non-permitted use or in a no-water time.