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BACKGROUND The City initially began offering water conservation assistance to water customers in the 1990s, alongside Zone 7 Water Agency's (Zone 7) water conservation program. The Department of Water Resources required water suppliers to offer specific water conservation "best management practices" (BMP) to water customers; these BMPs largely drove the nature of water-efficiency services initially offered. Working collaboratively since its introduction, Zone 7, and the Tri-Valley Water Retailers (Retailers; which include the City of Pleasanton, City of Livermore, and Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) have developed and regionally offered several rebates targeting applicable appliances and customer-end large water uses to provide incentive towards moving to water-efficient alternatives'. Following customer demands and market saturation of water-efficient alternatives influenced by tightening California Plumbing Code requirements rebate offerings have adjusted over time, although the City's annual funding level has remained constant at $25,000. Currently, the regional rebates offered directly through Zone 7 include: • High Efficiency Clothes Washer Rebate • Weather-Based Irrigation Controller Rebate • Water-Efficient Lawn Conversion Rebate (Zone 7 WEL Rebate). City staff reviews all rebate applications and invoices from Zone 7 for approved Pleasanton water customer rebates. The staff time involved to review each application depends upon the type of rebate applied for. The Zone 7 WEL Rebate is the most complicated and time consuming due to plant list reviews, site visit(s) and measurement confirmation, customer guidance, and answering customer questions. The Zone 7 WEL Rebate was originally launched in 2011, with the goal of improving outdoor water use efficiency. Outdoor water use was (and continues to be) recognized as a significant area of potential water savings, with low-water or "drought tolerant" plant species requiring far less water than conventional lawn. The original Zone WEL Rebate offered a maximum rebate based on square footage for single-family residential customers up to $500 and for commercial, institutional, and industrial (CII) properties or multi-family residences (generally irrigation meter customers) up to $3,000. This was later adjusted to remove the square footage basis and the maximum rebate was increased for single-family residential customers up to 50 percent of costs, up to $750, and for CII/multi-family customers up to 50 percent of costs, up to $4,500.2 This has remained in place until a recent increase in June 2021 (discussed on the following page). In an effort to gain more Pleasanton water customer participation in the Zone 7 WEL Rebate, in 2012 the City began offering a separate WEL Rebate through the City's Water Conservation Program which could be applied for in tandem with the Zone 7 WEL Rebate. This City WEL Rebate effectively raises the total amount a customer could potentially receive for a lawn conversion project. The City WEL Rebate offered an ' With the exception of Retailer California Water Service (Cal Water), which does not participate in most Zone 7 rebate programs. Costs eligible towards the WEL Rebates do not include the following: sales tax. delivery charges. equipment rental. installation. labor, personal items, or tools. Page 2 of 6