❒ Staff recommends voluntary 20% reduction in water consumption

Benicia City Council will hear staff recommend a citywide 20-percent voluntary reduction in water consumption Tuesday when interim Public Works Director Steve Salomon describes the effects of California’s drought on the city’s water supplies, and briefs the Council on options for addressing those impacts.

Recent rains have helped, he wrote, “but we are still in a drought. One storm will not make up for 13 months.”

In his report, Salomon compared the recent rains to a 10-ounce coffee mug, while the drought is the equivalent of an empty 5-gallon bucket.

The mug, he explained, “represents how much water the recent storm helped toward filling the bucket.”

Gov. Jerry Brown declared an “extreme drought emergency” Jan. 17, after the state recorded its driest year in 2013.

Then the State Department of Water Resources announced Jan. 31 that instead of providing 5 percent of the water requested by its contractors, the State Water Project (SWP) would be releasing no water at all. And that’s the source of 85 percent of Benicia’s water, Salomon wrote.

Benicia uses an average of 10,586 acre-feet (AF) of water each year. Each acre-foot is equal to 326,000 gallons, Salomon wrote.

Without SWP water, Benicia would have only 3,700 acre-feet of ongoing, committed water this year from its other sources, 2,000 acre-feet of Solano County Project water from the Solano Irrigation District, 1,100 acre-feet from Vallejo through the Solano Project’s Lake Berryessa and another 600 acre-feet from Lake Herman.

Between 1,000 and 5,100 acre-feet of SWP water may be available from the water that hasn’t been used in previous years, Salomon wrote.

But he warned there is no guarantee the city could receive its entire carryover because of the supplies available in state reservoirs.

Fortunately, Benicia also has 4,900 acre-feet of Solano Project reserves it hadn’t used in past years. But that is a one-time guaranteed supply, Salomon wrote.

He’s recommending using only half of that amount, in case the drought extends into 2015.

Benicia has banked 2,000 acre-feet with the Mojave Water District in an agreement that stipulates using 1,000 acre-feet by the end of 2014 and the same amount by the end of 2015. But because the SWP has suspended deliveries, that allocation isn’t available, Salomon wrote.

Instead, city employees are trying to determine if the 2014 allocations can be carried over to a future year, he wrote.

While Benicia normally receives 85 percent of its water supply from the State Water Project, it gets the balance from the Solano County Project, specifically Lake Berryessa, and from two contractors, the city of Vallejo and the Solano Irrigation District, he wrote.

Normally, Benicia uses SWP water because of its contract and a lawsuit settlement, Salomon wrote. Lake Herman is an emergency water source and a backup supply for Valero Benicia Refinery.

In most years, the city has used less water than has been made available, exporting water to Lake Herman.

About a third of Benicia’s needs are still covered by some of these water deliveries, but Salomon wrote that “there is considerable uncertainty about the balance.”

Conservation practices, drawing down carryover water from previous years — allotted but unused water — and buying water from elsewhere are some of the city’s options, he wrote.

While the other measures are explored, he wrote, city employees are recommending a community-wide water conservation effort be put in place.

The news comes at a time when city officials had hoped the city finances had stabilized after the upsets of the recession.

This comes on the heels of an announcement that a new finance and human resources software change isn’t going to be the simple, $66,000 upgrade it was expected to be.

Instead, the change is likely to become an overhaul costing $300,000 to $500,000, no matter which option the Council chooses to take this year.

Salomon wrote that there’s no immediate budget impact from the drought at this time, but that could change.

“Reduced water consumption can result in reduced water revenue to the city,” he wrote. “This will need to be monitored.”

In addition, Benicia may need to spend more from its Water Fund account to buy emergency short-term supplies that are more expensive than those from the city’s routine sources, he wrote.

He’s not recommending the city impose a drought surcharge at this time, but he noted the Council has the authority to do so.

Salomon said other Solano County cities aren’t being impacted as greatly as Benicia, because those municipalities get more of their water through the Solano Project or use groundwater and wells, relying on the State Water Project for a third or less of their needs.

Benicia has been diversifying its water supplies, improving its distribution infrastructure and employing “prudent conservation measures,” he wrote. But the city still needs to “take immediate steps” to save.

He has described three options, with the pros and cons of each, for the Council to consider.

Should the Council endorse a water-saving goal of 20 percent reduction in consumption, the city would save some of its one-time carryover Solano Project water for 2015, and the percentage is consistent with Brown’s request that Californians cut back their water use by 20 percent.

Salomon wrote that city employees are recommending that communitywide voluntary water conservation program they hope would reduce consumption by that 20 percent.

It also would reduce demand to 8,469 acre-feet, saving 2,117 acre-feet of water.

However, he agreed that this would have a greater impact to residents than other options.

One of those is a voluntary 10-percent reduction, which would give the city a buffer if it doesn’t receive any carryover water. But Benicia may not be able to save some of the one-time carryover Solano Project water, he noted. It would reduce demand to 9,527 acre-feet, saving 1,059 acre-feet of water.

Should the Council take the third option and decline to ask for any voluntary conservation, the decision would have no impact on residents, companies or the local government operations.

But it would put the city in a precarious position later if the drought continues beyond this year, and it assumes the State Water Project carryover water would be available, Salomon wrote. Demand would remain at 10,586 acre-feet.

Salomon’s report recommends water-saving tips similar to those made by the state and Solano County, such as decreased outdoor watering, the biggest use of water for residential customers; reducing shower time to no more than five minutes; and using high-efficient fixtures and appliances.

City employees also will meet with representatives of Valero Benicia Refinery, which uses excess raw water flow from the Water Treatment Plant or water from Lake Herman, to explore conservation methods the refinery might employ.

In 2013, Valero used 4,725 acre-feet of raw water for cooling tower water and fire suppression, Salomon wrote.

Benicia’s own municipal operation also will undertake a comprehensive conservation program, he wrote.

Several departments use “large quantities” of treated water to provide services to residents, and the Water Division staff will meet with each department to explore ways to reduce water use, he wrote.

“Immediate conservation efforts can be realized in reduced irrigation, suspension of distribution system flushing, and reducing water quantity for the odor scrubber at the Wastewater Treatment Plant,” he wrote.

He acknowledged the energy and water conservation projects instigated by the Community Sustainability Commission and funded through the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement, but suggested even more programs could be put in place.

Benicia has an Emergency Water Conservation Plan that establishes five conservation stages of action to address severe droughts, infrastructure failure or other emergencies. These begin with voluntary conservation and gradually increase mandatory actions and restrictions.

At this time, Salomon has recommended only the eight-point Phase One Drought Response plan, the mildest of the stages.

Those points set goals of 20-percent water reduction both communitywide and from city departments; using the water supplies first that are in the greatest jeopardy of being reduced; meeting with refinery staff to address conserving untreated water; consulting with Climate Action Plan Coordinator Alex Porteshawver to develop a water conservation program and seek Valero-GNSC funding through the Community Sustainability Commission; monitoring water use and revenues; and giving the Council regular progress reports as long as the drought is in effect and State Water Project supplies are restricted.

The City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in a closed session on property negotiations on parcels north of Lake Herman Road. The regular meeting will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.