Benicians have been among those Northern Californians setting the pace for conserving water, Public Works Director Graham Wadsworth wrote in appraising citywide efforts amid the drought.

By February 2015, he noted, Benicians as individuals, company operators and municipal workers had cut back their water use by 21.9 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

In December 2014, conservation efforts brought water consumption down by 31.7 percent, compared to the statewide average of 22.2 percent, he wrote City Manager Brad Kilger last month — good news, because California appears to be entering its fourth year of drought.

On the other hand, Benicians had a little more wiggle room than residents of some other places, Wadsworth wrote.

In fact, while citywide the cutback was nearly 10 percent better than other parts of California, that same December recording showed that Benicia’s per-capita water use was 70.4 gallons per person per day. That compared to the statewide average consumption of 67.2 gallons per person per day, Wadsworth wrote.

“Various factors can affect the per capita water use comparison, such as precipitation, temperatures, population, socio-economic measures and even water prices,” Wadsworth wrote.

California is no stranger to droughts, Wadsworth wrote. It has had nine multi-year dry spells since 1918, according to a state report he sent to Kilger.

Though this past winter brought one strong “Pineapple Express” storm that brought both rain and snow, the state needed several more to bring reservoirs up to capacity.

Wadsworth wrote that the Sierra snowpack is at 32 percent of normal, and he urged residents, city employees and companies to assume the drought will continue throughout the year, and to keep up their conservation measures.

A hoped-for “El Nino” wave of rainstorms ended up being a damp disappointment, though California is in slightly better shape overall than it was when the State Water Project announced last spring it wouldn’t release any of the water for which its subscribers contracted.

That includes Benicia, which counts on the SWP for 75 to 80 percent of its water. The City Council allocated an additional $900,000 last year for water purchases to supplement its few other options for water.

Overall, continued management of its water sources while customers conserve should keep Benicia in good shape to face the drought through 2016, Wadsworth wrote.

December rains prompted Benicia to treat 322 acre-feet of Lake Herman water from Dec. 18, 2014, to Jan. 27, so the city wouldn’t lose what Wadsworth called “valuable free rainfall water.”

Once the North Bay Aqueduct water improved, the city switched back to that source, he wrote.

The use of Lake Herman water concerned some residents. “The water quality of Lake Herman in the winter is generally good, with low levels of phytoplankton (algae) minimizing the potential for taste and odor problems,” Wadsworth wrote.

He wrote that the lake received “quicksilver tailing runoff” in the 1930s and 1940s. But he explained that the elemental mercury is trapped in lake sediments, ultimately ending up in the food chain. That limits the amount of Lake Herman fish that people should consume, but it doesn’t mean there’s mercury in the water, he added.

“Elemental mercury will not dissolve into the water supply due to the high levels of pH and alkalinity in the Lake Herman water quality,” he wrote.

Benicia has been taking advantage of its water options, managing them to assure the city, its residents and companies have enough for 2015. This includes using “use it or lose it” sources, such as some of its North Bay Aqueduct water, and monitoring water that can be carried over for future use.

“The strategy of ‘banking’ purchased Solano Project water in Lake Berryessa has demonstrated that the city can store almost one year’s worth of water,” Wadsworth wrote. “At the beginning of 2015, 12,797-AF (acre-feet) of Solano Project water will be available. At the beginning of 2015, 12,863-AF of Solano Project water is projected.”

Both amounts exceed the usual amount of water consumed citywide, he noted.

At the same time, to address a concern that some of the city’s water distribution is “missing,” work crews have been finding and repairing line leaks, and municipal employees are in the middle of the process required for Benicia’s 9,600 water meters to be examined for accuracy and replaced as needed, particularly since 60 percent of them are more than 20 years old.

And of course, “The drought conditions remain very serious,” Wadsworth wrote.

“Three consecutive dry years have left millions of acre-feet of empty space in reservoirs across California. That space cannot be filled by several typical winter storms or even one particularly powerful storm.”