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March 1, 2022, 1:00 p.m. : Customers near the 5600 and 5700 blocks of Via Real may experience temporary water service interruption due to an emergency shut-down and service repair. The Concha Loma and downtown areas may experience lower than normal water pressure. Work completion time is unknown at this time. District crews have been working on the repair all day and will continue working on it into the late night

We are over a month into 2022 and it sure is dry. In January we had 0.02 inches of rain recorded in Carpinteria and February is not looking much better. We are halfway through February and hoping for some rain to help replenish local water supplies. Historically in Santa Barbara County, precipitation in January and February make up 43% of the rainfall all year. We started the winter with a hopeful set of storms in December. The rainfall at Lake Cachuma was 8.22 inches in the month of December, which accounts for the majority of the 9.99 inches of rain the area received since September of last year. The storms in December were enough to turn the hillsides green but did very little for increasing storage at Lake Cachuma. However, we are, now, considerably behind in our seasonal rainfall. January and February are some of the most important months for statewide snow and precipitation and we have been greeted with blue skies and warm weather. We are hoping for a miracle in March to avoid falling deeper into our existing drought as December rain did little to change to critical water supply conditions.

People oftentimes use Lake Cachuma as a gauge to visualize how impactful storms are for local water supplies. Last November, the reservoir was at 48.4% capacity and decreased to 47.3% capacity ahead of December’s rainstorms. In the month of December, Lake Cachuma received 1,333 acre-feet of water, but this only raised the reservoir back to 48.4% capacity. For the watershed to become saturated it takes a substantial amount of steady rainfall, especially after periods with little to no rain. We need consistent storms over time to saturate the region and allow the rain to become available as runoff to help fill the reservoir. Slow, steady rain is also important for groundwater recharge. Although we want runoff to fill the Lake, we do not want too much runoff in areas overlying the Carpinteria Groundwater Basin as the water will flow down the creeks and out to the ocean before it can infiltrate into the aquifers.

Managing our water supply portfolio is a balancing act during periods of drought and with unpredictable allocations from the State Water Project (SWP). This recurring scenario has prompted the District to develop projects that will supplement our water supplies and help monitor existing supplies. As of this writing, 65% of California is still in a severe drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Initially, water suppliers were told to expect 0% of their allocation from the SWP. Fortunately, due to the rain and snow the Sierras received earlier this winter, the State revised the allocations to 15% for the State Water Project. Our strategy to develop a locally controlled, drought-proof water supply for our agency to be resilient during statewide droughts will pay off during these unpredictable water supply situations. You undoubtedly have heard me talk about the Carpinteria Advanced Water Purification Project (CAPP). It will have the capacity to produce up to 25% of CVWD’s demand in any year. This water would be produced by utilizing a multi-step treatment process to produce purified water that would be injected into the aquifer to replenish groundwater levels. The water would be pumped out months later by the District’s production wells to meet water demands. Currently, there are many grants available at the federal and state level for water supply projects to help assist with the final design and implementation of CAPP. We are competing with many other water supply and infrastructure projects, but we are hopeful that we will receive some funding to assist with the final design of the project within the next two years. For more information on CAPP visit cvwd.net/capp/. The District is also currently in the permitting process for new monitoring wells at El Carro Park, which will allow us to examine groundwater quality and water storage over time in the central portion of the CGB. We hope to have the project completed this calendar year. This monitoring well will be a key well in the monitoring program under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in the CGB.

In the absence of rain and additional water supply sources, we are asking our customers to make conservation a way of life and use our water wisely. CVWD declared a Stage II Drought in October of 2021 and asked for a 20% reduction in water use from our customers, and we are currently not approaching these goals. We hope you will recognize the current situation and be mindful of your water consumption and find ways to further reduce your use. The District is using its new automated meter infrastructure (AMI) tools to notify customers of continuous flows alerts, which occur after water is used for 24 hours straight without a 15 minute break. Approximately 4,000 of our customers have access to a new webtool called Eye-on-water where you can set leak alerts and monitor your water use. To sign up for your Eye-on-water account, go to eyeonwater.com/signup. E-mail conservation@cvwd.net with any questions. For District updates, please visit our website cvwd.net, follow us on Twitter @CarpWater, or Carpinteria Valley Water District on Facebook and Nextdoor.

Water service will be interrupted to approximately sixteen service address in the 5000 block of 8th Street, 700 and 800 block of Linden Avenue on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.  Field staff will be performing repairs to the water distribution system. Letters have been mailed and door tags have been hung at the affected service addresses notifying customers of the scheduled water interruption. Our crews will make every effort to minimize the time the water is off.      

It is hard to believe we are quickly approaching the Thanksgiving holiday and have only received 0.98 inches of rain since October. After two consecutive dry winters starting in December 2019, Carpinteria Valley Water District’s Board of Directors approved of Ordinance 21-1 on October 13th 2021 which declared a Stage Two Drought Condition and implemented water use restrictions to conserve water and calling for a 20% water use reduction. The County of Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors adopted a Resolution in July of 2021 declaring a Local Drought Emergency and the Governor has declared all counties in the State to be in a Drought Emergency. California is severely dry and it is incredibly important to make water-conserving habits a part of our daily routines. It is uncertain when we are going to receive sufficient rainfall to replenish the Carpinteria Groundwater Basin and Lake Cachuma. In addition, our State Water Project allocation for 2021 is 5% with similarly low allocations expected in 2022. The water use restrictions implemented during this Stage Two Drought Condition are integral to protect our water supplies for human consumption, sanitation, and fire protection during these dry periods.

The following water-use restrictions are in place to help us meet our goal to use 20% less water over the next 12 to 24 months. By adapting to these changes, our customers can help to stretch our resources and prevent further strain on our groundwater basin.

1.  If you plan to use water to clean buildings, driveways, or sidewalks you must receive approval from the District. This activity should be limited to health & safety-related cleaning.
2.  Irrigation on landscaping shall not runoff onto patios, decks or driveways, walkways, roadways, parking lots, or other non-landscaped areas.
3.  Irrigation by hose or movable sprinkler may not occur between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for yards, parks, recreation areas, or other landscaped areas.
4.  Irrigation through fixed systems (sprinkler systems), either manually or by timer controller, is prohibited between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., although exceptions can be made if customers are testing their water system or repairing leaks.
5. Customers shall not irrigate turf or ornamental landscapes during or within twenty-four hours of measurable rainfall – please let the rain replenish your landscapes naturally and be aware of weather changes to promptly adjust your irrigation controllers.
6. Residential, commercial, public authority, and industrial customers shall not irrigate landscape more than 3 days a week.
7. Free-flowing hoses for all uses are prohibited, including while washing boats and vehicles; we ask that you use self-closing shut off valves.
8. There are additional requirements for irrigation systems on new development.
9. Hotels, motels, and restaurants are required to display notices of drought conditions and provide suggested actions for saving water at their facilities. If your business is in need of drought notice signage, please e-mail conservation@cvwd.net.

For additional information, including rules regarding draining and filling of pools, please refer to Ordinance 21-1 located in the document section of our website. We appreciate your help with these water-saving measures to help sustain us through this unpredictable winter.

The District is also working on finalizing its automated metered infrastructure (AMI) project with our endpoint exchange program. This will ultimately allow us to view hourly water consumption data and read our meters remotely. This can help District staff and customers detect leaks when they first start and save water. You may see vans that say PMI (Professional Meters Inc.) driving around town or technicians with wagons or buckets carrying equipment through your neighborhood. The program is underway with 35% of our AMI system completed as of this writing. Our staff may be reaching out to you by phone, e-mail, or letter if we see suspicious, abnormal water consumption patterns.

We have already helped several customers save water and avoid hefty water bills with our new system. One of our residential customers accidentally left a hose running at 10 gallons per minute watering a fruit tree for several days. We were able to notify them about the high consumption and help them find the source. Over the course of a month this would have been over 430,000 gallons used and over 500 units of water that the customer would have been billed for. In addition, we caught a toilet leak that had used over 3,000 gallons of water in just 2 days, amounting to 4 additional units of water in this short period of time. When this project is completed early in 2022, this new technology will be a great tool for helping us save water. CVWD customers will have access to an online portal and mobile application which will provide them with the same water-consumption data that we are able to see on our end including leak and high usage warnings.

To further assist you is conserving water, the District continues to offer rebates to residential and commercial customers for water conservation fixtures and appliances as well as rebates on WaterWise Landscape upgrades. For District updates, please visit our website cvwd.net, follow us on Twitter @CarpWater, or Carpinteria Valley Water District on Facebook and Nextdoor.