Zone 7 Water Agency Ends Drought Emergency & Mandatory Conservation

LIVERMORE, CA — The board of the Zone 7 Water Agency, which sells treated water wholesale to the Tri-Valley, voted unanimously April 19 to end the drought emergency and the 15 percent mandatory conservation requirements, following one of the wettest winters on record. That is welcome news for Dublin, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Livermore, which all purchase their water from Zone 7.

On March 24, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order lifting statewide restrictions, and a number of local water agencies around the Bay Area, including the Alameda County Water District, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, and the Contra Costa Water District followed suit.

In the fall of 2021, the Zone 7 Board voted to mandate a 15 percent reduction in water usage in response to severe drought conditions and reduced water supply allocations from the state. The State Water Project, which is run by the California Department of Water Resources, announced last Thursday that it is increasing allocations to 100 percent of agencies’ requested supply. The last time the state agency fully met water requests was in 2006.

During the drought, allocations dropped as low as five percent, and local water agencies turned to the local groundwater basin for supply. The Tri-Valley was successful in cutting its water usage by 15 percent from the previous year, which amounted to 1.7 billion gallons of water saved.

“We are grateful to the Tri-Valley community for their successful efforts to conserve water during the drought. We recorded some of the driest years on record for our area recently, and times like these remind us that water is a precious commodity,” Zone 7 Board of Directors President Sarah Palmer said in a statement. “Working together, our community saved 1.7 billion gallons of water in 2022 and we thank every resident in our community who reduced outdoor watering, replaced grass lawns with native and drought tolerant plants, saved their shower warm up water, and made other efforts to achieve these savings. Your small changes have made a big difference.”

Mandatory restrictions are no longer in place, but Zone 7 is still encouraging residents to try to conserve water as much as possible. In a resolution, the agency asked residents to aim for five percent voluntary conservation.

Statewide, certain restrictions continue to apply, such as bans on watering ornamental grass on commercial properties. The Dublin San Ramon Services District voted to implement certain water waste restrictions, which include:

• Using drinking water for washing sidewalks, driveways, buildings, and other hard surfaces.
• Individual washing of cars without a shut-off nozzle.
• Irrigating turf and ornamental landscape within 48 hours of measurable rainfall.
• Irrigating ornamental turf on street medians or commercial properties.
• Using drinkable water for street cleaning or construction unless no other source of water can be used.

Newsom’s executive order still retains a state of emergency for all 58 counties to allow for drought response and recovery to continue, and preserves all current emergency orders focused on groundwater supply.