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After more than a year of mandated water conservation requirements from the region’s primary water supplier, Tri-Valley communities are now being encouraged to voluntarily save water, rather than being required to amid record drought conditions.
The Zone 7 Water Agency Board of Directors voted last week to end the drought state of emergency that first went into effect in late 2021 and included conservation requirements to reduce water use by 15%.
“It is my pleasure to recommend that the board adopt a resolution declaring an end to the drought emergency, the water shortage contingency plan stage 2, and 50% water conservation,” Sal Segura, associate civil engineer for Zone 7, said at the April 19 meeting. “Many of the districts statewide have already done this, and it makes perfect sense for Zone 7 to follow suit.”
The resolution was approved unanimously by all seven directors on the board that oversees Zone 7, which is the water wholesaler for the cities of Pleasanton and Livermore, the Dublin San Ramon Services District and Cal Water’s Livermore Division.
The move comes following the lifting of water conservation requirements at the state level by Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 24, and as the water allocation to Zone 7 from the State Water Project (SWP) was increased to 75% starting in March — the highest level since 2019 — with the potential for further allocation increases throughout the year.
The increased water allocation to Zone 7 from the SWP marks far healthier water levels than allocations from the previous drought-stricken year had seen, with SWP allocation falling to as low as 5% for Zone 7.
“We are grateful to the Tri-Valley community for their successful efforts to conserve water during the drought,” Board President Sarah Palmer said. “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.”
With the conservation restrictions in place, Tri-Valley residents met the goal of reducing water usage in 2022 by 15% compared with the previous year.
“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,” Palmer said. “Your small changes have made a big difference.”
While the conservation mandate is no longer in effect, residents are still encouraged by Zone 7 and state officials to continue water conservation practices they’ve adopted in recent years, and to recognize the uncertain future of water supplies amid unpredictable weather patterns over recent years that are expected to continue in the future.
