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BACKGROUND Since January 2014, the State of California declared a drought emergency, as did the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Zone 7 (Zone 7). Shortly thereafter, in February 2014, the City adopted Stage 1 of the City's Water Conservation Plan. Stage 1 sought a 20% voluntarily reduction in water use. In April 2014, all Californians were asked to reduce water usage by 20% and Zone 7 asked all water retailers, including Pleasanton, to reduce water usage by 25%. As voluntary reductions were not achieved and water supplies continued to dwindle, in May 2014, the City adopted the Stage 3 mandatory 25% water reduction, and proclaimed a Local Drought Emergency. In August 2014, statewide mandatory reductions and prohibitions (generally less strict than Pleasanton's Stage 3) were also adopted. City staff has provided educational outreach, home and office visits (to program irrigation systems & detect leaks), enforced prohibitions on water waste (e.g. no washing vehicles on driveway, no irrigation mid-day), provided free water-efficient sink aerators and shower heads, processed appeals for excess use penalties, and reduced water used at City facilities by an average of 45%. These efforts resulted in a 27.8% reduction from 2013 to 2014. Based on this successful water use reduction, in January 2015, the City suspended for 90 days the excess use penalties (but left in place restrictions against water waste and other water use restrictions). On April 1, 2015, the Governor declared a statewide emergency requiring mandatory water reductions of 25% for all Municipal and Industrial water users. Pleasanton's current Stage 3 restrictions generally meet or exceed these latest State provisions (e.g. no hosing down sidewalks; restaurants only offer water when requested; etc.). City staff has worked with local businesses regarding the State restriction on hotel and motel operators that now "must provide guests with the option of choosing not to have towels and linens laundered daily", as that was not part of the City's Stage 3 restrictions.1 Similarly, City staff will also assist residents and property owners to take advantage of the Executive Order's directive for State-sponsored programs for partial funding for replacing lawns with drought tolerant landscapes, rebates for replacing inefficient household devices, and other State and local programs. Through October 2015, these efforts have resulted in a 37.3% reduction in water usage in year-to-date 2015 compared to 2013. For comparison, the State of California achieved a 28.1% savings for June through September. DISCUSSION Attached for City Council information is a chart summarizing a comparison between 2013 and 2015 water usage (Attachment 1). Compared to potable water consumption in 2013, the City achieved a 27.8% reduction for 2014 and is currently on track for at least 35% savings for 2015. The effective drinking water savings impact has been 1.65 billion gallons in 2014 and almost 2 billion gallons so far in 2015. While these State regulations allow local jurisdictions to fine violators up to $500 per violation, the City will continue to warn and provide courtesy citations, and thereafter administrative fines (starting at$100)for continuing violations. Page 2 of 4