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BACKGROUND <br /> Municipal Code Chapter 2.44 Emergency Organization and California Government <br /> Code §§8630 et. seq. allows the City Council to proclaim a local emergency and <br /> provides that City staff shall return to the City Council approximately every sixty (60) <br /> days to update the City Council on the local emergency. <br /> On October 5, 2021, City Council adopted urgency Ordinance No. 2225 declaring <br /> a Local Drought Emergency and adopted Resolution No. 21-1250 declaring a Stage 2 <br /> water shortage and mandating that Pleasanton water customers reduce their potable <br /> water usage by 15 percent. Due to the critically reduced water supplies and continued <br /> extreme dry weather, the protection of public health, safety, and welfare supported the <br /> declaration of a Local Drought Emergency providing the needed flexibility to respond <br /> quickly to changing situations involving fire safety, water availability for fire service, <br /> flexibility to obtain needed supplies or resources, and the authorization to collaborate <br /> with other local agencies on critical drought issues. <br /> DISCUSSION <br /> The City's Water Supply Contingency Plan (WSCP) describes the City's strategic plan <br /> in response to water shortages and establishes a fundamental link to Zone 7's water <br /> supply outlook as critical criteria for assessing a water shortage. The WSCP defines a <br /> Stage 2 water shortage as follows: <br /> There is sufficient uncertainty concerning water supply, either based upon Annual Water <br /> Supply and Demand Assessment (AWSDA) finding or unforeseeable event, to lead to <br /> the conclusion that supply may not adequately meet normal demand in the current or <br /> upcoming years. <br /> On March 18, 2022, DWR, prompted by the driest January and February on record, <br /> below average snowpack, and low reservoir levels, cut the SWP allocation to 5 percent. <br /> DWR previously set the allocation at 15 percent earlier this year. <br /> The revised allocation significantly limits the amount of new water supply available to <br /> the Tri-Valley, which relies on Zone 7 Water Agency (Zone 7) to import approximately <br /> 70 percent of its total water supply from the SWP during typical years. THIS YEAR, <br /> 2022 will be the third consecutive year of drought conditions and reduced SWP <br /> allocations. <br /> Conservation remains an important part of the Tri-Valley's water portfolio and customers <br /> are being asked to continue their conservation efforts as temperatures rise and irrigation <br /> use increases. Since City Council adopted the mandatory 15 percent water <br /> conservation measure in October 2021, water customers' conservation efforts have <br /> fluctuated as shown in Figure 1. The City's potable water use in March 2022 shows a <br /> four percent increase compared to March 2020. <br /> Zone 7 has been relying heavily on the Tri-Valley's groundwater basin, which holds the <br /> imported water Zone 7 stores during wet years to sustain the Tri-Valley during the <br /> drought. However, that supply can only stretch so far, and conservation is a key piece to <br /> prolonging the supply held in the groundwater basin. <br /> Page 2 of 3 <br />