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Healdsburg wants residents to become more miserly with water use, but stopped short Tuesday of imposing mandatory conservation measures.

The City Council unanimously voted to ask citizens to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent for a variety of mostly outdoor uses, like lawn and garden irrigation that will come into play when the rainy season concludes.

But depending on rainfall over the next couple of months, City Council members said they will revisit the possibility in late April of mandatory water restrictions that would carry financial penalties for violations and even shutting off service to severe offenders.

“Water is a finite resource and we really need to protect it,” said Councilman Mike McGuire.

“We’re in a critically dry year. We can’t let the wet streets fool us.” “Healdsburg residents meet the challenge and usually exceed it,” Councilman Gary Plass said in urging voluntary conservation measures initially, like those that resulted in a 16 percent reduction last year.

But Healdsburg residents are being asked to conserve an additional 20percent on top of what they did in 2008.

The latest rains have helped replenish water reservoirs, but not enough, said Jim Flugum, Healdsburg’s senior civil engineer.

“I’ve been watching it all weekend and it hasn’t done much in Lake Mendocino,” he said.

Flugum noted that the recent series of storms added about 5,000 acre-feet to Lake Mendocino. That brings the lake to about 36,000 acre-feet as of Tuesday at 5 p.m., still less than half the supply it had at this time last year.

Healdsburg gets its water from two well fields that draw from the Russian River and a third system from Dry Creek.

Russian River flows originate from Lake Mendocino and are augmented by several smaller streams, while the Dry Creek flows originate from Lake Sonoma.

Lake Sonoma is in better shape than the river, but there are limits on how much fast-moving water can be released in order to protect the fish run in Dry Creek.

Low water supplies have prompted the call for conservation measures by the Sonoma County Water Agency and the cities it serves, including, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Cotati, Sonoma and some smaller districts.

Healdsburg has senior rights to the river that are not subject to mandatory water rationing imposed by the Sonoma County Water Agency.

But city officials note that the reduced flows may hinder Healdsburg’s ability to pump water, and conservation makes sense to ensure an adequate water supply.

The voluntary measures approved Tuesday include:

Watering every other day, but not on Mondays.

Watering only during the evening and early morning hours.

No outdoor wash down, including parking lot and sidewalk washing.

Inspecting irrigation systems for leaks and over spraying.

No refilling, or initial filling of swimming pools although topping off will likely be allowed to protect filters and other pool equipment.

No noncommercial washing of cars, boats and other vehicles except by bucket or a hose equipped with a shut-off nozzle.

The council at its March 2 meeting will consider crafting an ordinance that could require as much as 50 percent mandatory conservation in the future.

The city plans to mail out information to let water users know what the average home consumes along with tips for saving water.

One unwelcome side effect of conservation is that it can lead to increased use fees for residents.

Reductions in water consumption will result in equally significant reductions in revenue to cover the fixed operational costs, Public Works Director Mike Kirn said. But he said the dip in revenue might be covered by delaying some capital improvement projects and using the money to subsidize operations instead.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.

(Original Article Here)