2 Coachella Valley water suppliers each hit with $61K fines

The Coachella Valley Water District and the Indio Water Authority are two of four water suppliers in California that are facing penalties from the State Water Resources Control Board for failing to meet water conservation goals.

Each department has been issued a complaint for a $61,000 penalty for failing to meet the state mandated conservation tier standards.

The other two water suppliers dealing with a penalty are the city of Beverly Hills and the city of Redlands, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

“Up and down the state, residents and water suppliers are making the necessary sacrifices needed to help California meet its conservation goals. However, some urban water suppliers simply have not met the requirements laid before them,” said Cris Carrigan, director of the Office of Enforcement. “For these four suppliers, it’s been too little too late to achieve their conservation standard.”

Each month, the State Water Board compares every urban water supplier’s water use with their use for the same month in 2013 to determine if they are on track for meeting their conservation standard. Local water agencies determine the most cost effective and locally appropriate way to achieve their standard. The State Water Board will work closely with water suppliers to implement the regulation and improve local efforts that are falling short.

Californians reduced water use by more than 26 percent during September, exceeding Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s 25 percent conservation mandate for a fourth straight month.

“Millions of Californians have saved water during the summer months, which are the four most critical months to save water,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “This is important and wonderful, and we are thankful for all of the effort by individuals and agencies. Now, we need to keep it up as best we can, even as we hope for as much rain and snow as we can safely handle. We’re in the position of having to prepare for drought and flooding at the same time, but that’s what we’re faced with.”

Below is the full official statement from the Coachella Valley Water District:

The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) acknowledged today that it has been fined $61,000 by the state for falling short of the state water conservation mandate.

“Our customers have made a significant commitment to conservation and we applaud those efforts,” said Jim Barrett, general manager. “Because our overall numbers have fallen short of the state’s conservation mandate, we are developing new approaches to encourage increased conservation. We will be bringing those options to the next CVWD Board of Directors meeting.”

The state is requiring CVWD to reduce overall water use by 36% when compared to the same month in 2013 or face penalties of up to $10,000 per day.

The state considers a month-to-month rolling average when evaluating a district’s conservation efforts. CVWD customers saved 21.3% in June, 40.6% in July, 26.5% in August, and 16.4% less water in September. The average over the four-month period is 26.2%.

To date, CVWD has asked customers to limit water use to 36% below their monthly outdoor water budget. Customers who fail to do so are subject to drought penalties.

The CVWD Board of Directors also adopted the state’s mandatory water-use restrictions plus additional restrictions and recommendations for increased conservation. Customers who violate water-use restrictions can be liable for fines on their bill starting at $50 and up to $200.

CVWD has encouraged conservation through a variety of means including print, radio and television advertising; media interviews; direct mail pieces, door hangars, fact sheets and flyers; speaking engagements and attendance at community events; newsletter columns in partner publications; billboards and social media. Some of this outreach was conducted in Spanish.

District customers have removed about 6.6 million square feet of grass since the program started. The next scheduled CVWD board meeting is at 9 a.m. Nov. 10 at the Steve Robbins Administration Building, 75515 Hovley Lane East in Palm Desert.

Below is the full official statement from the Indio Water Authority:

Indio Water Authority (IWA) has aggressively been working towards meeting its 32% water conservation goals set by the state and has implemented a number of programs to both educate and reduce water usage. IWA offers a robust turf removal rebate program for both residential and commercial customers, uses state of the art technology to detect leaks and has an active leak detection and repair program, offers individualized landscape audits to its customers, and has increased the budget for education over 300%. Just this month, IWA adopted a drought penalty surcharge to further address water violations.

City Manager Dan Martinez states: “Indio is one of the fastest growing cities in California and we are committed to continuing outreach to our customers as well as implementing programs to reduce water usage. In the meantime, this is a reminder that we need all our residents and businesses to join the conservation effort and help reduce water use.”

“While we are disappointed with today’s action, like other water agencies across California, we are concerned about not meeting the 32% goal set by the state. IWA will continue to explore additional programs to help us achieve the reductions we need. So far this year, we have participated in over 100 outreach events in our city. We are committed to conserve” said Brian Macy, General Manager for the IWA.