Following the driest first three months of a year in the state’s recorded history, Governor Gavin Newsom on March 28, 2022, issued a Drought Emergency Declaration.  This Executive Order called on the State Water Board to consider requiring urban water suppliers  such as GCSD to activate, at a minimum, Level 2 of their customized Water Shortage Contingency Plans (WSCP).  These plans are required by state law, and GCSD adopted its plan in November 2021 and is available below.   Triggering Level 2 of the GCSD plan involves implementing water conservation actions to prepare for a water conservation level of up to 20 percent. 

The primary objective of the WSCP is to ensure that the GCSD has in place the necessary resources and management responses needed to protect health and human safety, minimize economic disruption, and preserve environmental and community assets during water supply shortages and interruptions. This locally developed plan will be the first point of reference and implementation during (1) an Agency declared water shortage, (2) a City or County proclamation of a local water supply emergency, or (3) a declared statewide drought emergency. 

With the Governor's declared drought emergency, the state water board will not be far behind in adopting its emergency regulations requiring the GCSD level 2 voluntary water conservation.  GCSD through its water supply agreement with the SFPUC does not currently have, nor does it expect an actual shortage of water supply this summer.  We are also planning and received an $8.5 million grant committment for a drought resilience project to increase available water supplies during event the worst extended drought conditions.  

If the State does mandate GCSD move to water conservation at Level 2, the plan includes implementing the following:

• Prohibit fire hydrant flow testing.
• Restaurants shall serve water only upon customer request.
• Hotels, motels, and lodges must offer guests the option of not having towels and linens laundered
daily by displaying notices prominently in each guestroom.
• The GCSD will contact the highest water users to encourage use of water conservation methods.             • Watering of lawns, gardens, and other outdoor vegetation by use of irrigation systems, hoses, faucets or other outlets connected to the public water supply is limited to three days a week. Landscape watering may be restricted to outside of peak demand hours.
• The GCSD will evaluate its water use for main flushing to see if reductions are possible.

It is important to understand that to be eligible for state grant funds, GCSD must comply with state mandates like water conservation, even if we are not actually short on water supply.