The City of Seal Beach will only need to reduce its water usage another 3 percent overall, according to Public Works Director Sean Crumby.
Rules for water restrictions that are expected to be adopted by the State Water Board in early May would require Seal Beach and other cities to reduce water use by 8 percent, based on the volume of water the community used in 2013.
But Crumby recently said that Seal Beach had voluntarily reduced water use by 5 percent already, leaving the city with a need to reduce water use by another 3 percent to meet the mandated reduction.
The state Water Board originally adopted a four-tier system for water reductions. Cities with the lowest level of water use were put into the 10 percent tier.
However, response from water providing agencies throughout the state prompted Water Board staff to revise the tier system.
The result: An eight-tier system numbered 2 to 9, with cities in tier 2 required to reduce water use by 8 percent and cities in tier 9 required to reduce water use by 36 percent.
Seal Beach was placed in the new 8 percent tier along with 22 other California communities.
There are 483 cities in California. Only about 5 percent of the cities in the state qualify for the 8 percent tier.
Crumby said city staff would go to the City Council after the Water Board adopts the proposed rationing system at the board’s May 5 and 6 meeting. In mid-April, City Manager Jill Ingram said Seal Beach had the fourth lowest water use rate per capita in the state.
While Seal Beach hasn’t been hit as hard by the drought restrictions that Gov. Jerry Brown mandated on April 1, other communities haven’t been so fortunate.
In Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, residents have been operating under water rationing that mandated 25 percent reduction in water use by residents and businesses. Water rationing began on the island last year. Avalon is expected to face a mandatory 50 percent water cut back in October 2015.
