We live in a region where there is typically either not enough rainfall or way too much. Right now, we are emerging from a second consecutive dry winter, and are in the second year of a two-year drought that rivals 1976-77 as the worst such stretch in history. The atmospheric rivers that hit the west coast this last winter landed either too far north or too far south to replenish Lakes Sonoma and Mendocino.
And so, our region needs to and will strongly emphasize water conservation once again this summer. This will enable the 150,000 acre feet of water (49 billion gallons) currently stored in Lake Sonoma to serve the region next year if there is a third dry winter.
Petaluma will need to reduce its use of Russian River water by about 20% this summer. The city can make up about 7 percentage points of this 20% reduction by using our local backup well system, but residents and businesses will still be asked to focus even more than usual on water conservation.
A question that is frequently asked when citizens are being asked to conserve water even more aggressively than usual is why new housing and other development is continuing to move forward. People naturally assume that more people means more water consumption. But in Petaluma, as well as the entire region over the last two decades, that has not been the case. Not even close.
In a nutshell, ongoing water conservation efforts by residents, businesses and the city of Petaluma over the past 20 years have far outstripped population growth.
Petaluma’s total water usage peaked in 2001, when Petaluma supplied 3.7 billion gallons of water to customers. By 2019, that figure had dropped to 2.6 billion gallons, despite about a 10% increase in population. Looked at a different way, Petaluma’s water usage declined from 174 gallons per person per day in 2001 to 107 gallons per person per day in 2019.
These impressive achievements were made possible by residents mulching over lawns and shifting to more drought tolerant landscaping, as well as residents and businesses investing in water saving appliances and other devices.
Also contributing is the continued expansion of purple pipe carrying recycled water for landscape irrigation. Many parks and schools in Petaluma are now irrigated with recycled water, reducing our need for Russian River water, and soon to be hooked up are SRJC’s Petaluma campus, Meadow Elementary and several additional parks.
This downward trend in total water use is both strong and ongoing.
Petaluma receives all of its Russian River water through a single pipeline known as the Petaluma Aqueduct. Until quite recently, the expectation was that growing water demand would exceed the Petaluma Aqueduct’s capacity, requiring construction of a parallel aqueduct at a cost of many tens of millions of dollars. But now, construction of a second pipeline has been postponed indefinitely. That’s good news because its cost won’t need to be added to customer bills.
A related point is that many residents have already done so much to conserve water all the time that it is unrealistic to now ask them to reduce consumption by another 20%. We get that. Within the industry, this is known as “demand hardening.”
Initially, Petaluma will be taking some simple, common-sense steps: Water will be served in restaurants on request only. Hosing down sidewalks will be banned. Landscape irrigation will be encouraged after dark. Residents and businesses will be reminded to fix leaks and eliminate water waste.
Working together, we will get through the current drought. Longer term, it is very realistic to expect that continued water conservation efforts will continue to far outstrip modest population growth and that Petaluma’s total annual water consumption will keep trending downward.
Mike Healy is a member of the Petaluma City Council.
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May 05, 2021 at 07:05AM
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Commentary: How Petaluma plans to get through the current drought - Petaluma Argus Courier
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