Whenever the City Council finds a need to provide for the equitable distribution of critically limited water supplies, in order to balance demand and limited available supplies, and to assure that sufficient water is available to preserve public health and safety, it shall be empowered to declare, by resolution, the adoption of mandatory rationing.
(A) Objectives of rationing.
(1) It is imperative that water customers achieve an immediate further reduction in water use in order to extend existing water supplies and, at the same time, assure that sufficient water is available to preserve the public health and sanitation and to provide fire protection service.
(2) The immediate further reduction in water usage is another step along a continuum of responses to the present water supply shortage. Should shortages continue, further reductions in usage may be required. It must be emphasized that the additional usage reduction in the rationed area is a valid and attainable goal reflective of the conditions which currently exist.
(3) The plan provides for equitable reductions in water usage and for equal sacrifice on the part of each water customer. The success of this chapter depends on the cooperation of all water customers in the emergency area.
(B) Water use rationing for residential users; metered residential water customers and allotments.
(1) The number of permanent residents in each dwelling unit (household) will determine the amount of water that each household will be allowed.
(2) Each dwelling unit (household) shall be allotted 40 gallons per day for each resident of the household. Households with only one permanent resident will have a daily allotment of 55 gallons.
(3) Residential water customers are required to provide city and utility personnel with reasonable access to read meters as necessary to this rationing declaration. Where access is not readily available, all reasonable efforts to contact customers in order to arrange for access to read meters shall be made. In the event a water customer does not allow entry to read the meter after reasonable efforts to arrange for such access, the dwelling unit (household) allotment will be reduced to 55 gallons per day.
(4) (a) Where the residential water allotment provided under this section would create an extraordinary hardship, as in the case of special health-related requirements, the water customer may apply to the city for an exemption or variance from these requirements. If it is found that the allotment provided in this section would impose an extraordinary hardship, a revised allotment for the particular customer may be established.
(b) Any person aggrieved by a decision relating to such an exemption or variance rendered by a public utility or municipal corporation rendering water service beyond its corporate limits, may file a complaint with the City Council in accordance with the city’s normal administrative procedures.
(C) Water use rationing for nonresidential water users.
(1) Nonresidential customers include commercial, industrial, institutional, public, and all other such users, with the exception of hospitals and health care facilities.
(2) Nonresidential water customers shall further reduce their water usage to 40 gallons per person per day or to 50% of use levels during specified months.
(3) It is the primary responsibility of each nonresidential water customer to meet its mandated water use reduction goal in whatever manner possible.
(4) The city will establish a water allotment for each non-residential water customer, based upon a required further reduction of water usage from the rate of water used by the customer in effect or the last recorded use level if no meter readings record the rate of the customer’s use.
(5) Each non-residential water user shall provide access to city personnel for purposes of meter reading and monitoring of compliance with this chapter. All reasonable efforts will be made to contact customers to arrange for access.
(6) (a) If the mandated further reduction in water usage cannot be obtained without imposing extraordinary hardship which threatens health and safety, the non-residential customer may apply to the city for a variance. For these purposes, EXTRAORDINARY HARDSHIP means a permanent damage to property or economic loss which is substantially more severe than the sacrifices borne by other water users subject to this chapter. If the further reduction would cause an extraordinary hardship or threaten health or safety, a variance may be granted and a revised water use reduction requirement for the particular customer may be established.
(b) Any person aggrieved by a decision relating to such a variance rendered by a public utility or municipal corporation rendering water service beyond its corporate limits may file a complaint with the State Public Service Commission in accordance with established procedures.
(D) Enforcement of water rationing.
(1) The city or its water utility will have primary responsibility for monitoring of compliance with the water rationing ordinance.
(2) The following provisions shall govern the implementations of temporary service interruptions:
(a) In order to effectuate compliance with this chapter, the city is hereby authorized and required to plan and implement temporary service interruptions to all or part of its water supply system, as may be deemed appropriate, when any and/or all of the following conditions are determined to exist:
1. The mandated reduction in system-wide usage has not been achieved;
2. The mandated reduction in system-wide water usage has been achieved, but has failed to have a significant impact in extending limited water supplies; and/or
3. Temporary service interruptions are necessary in order to further extend limited and/or dwindling water supplies.
(b) In the event it is determined that temporary service interruptions are necessary, the city shall notify its customers through the public media (newspapers, radio, and television), at least one day prior to the temporary service interruptions, that a planned, temporary service interruption is to be imposed. Such notice shall:
1. State the day or days when the planned, temporary service interruptions will occur;
2. State the time(s) when such planned, temporary service interruptions will commence, and the time(s) such interruptions will cease;
3. State whether the planned, temporary service interruptions are to be imposed on the entire system, or part thereof, and, if only parts of the system will experience planned, temporary service interruptions, identify geographic boundaries within which such interruptions will occur; and
4. Advise all customers within the areas affected by planned, temporary service interruptions how to treat any water received from the system for human consumption during the periods of such interruptions, and for such additional time as may be necessary, until full pressure is restored to the system.
(c) If a planned, temporary service interruption is imposed as authorized and required by this chapter, it must provide for the continued delivery of water to health care facilities within the areas affected by such interruptions by means of any adequate, alternative delivery measures that may be necessary.
(d) If a planned, temporary service interruption is implemented, it must make provision, by any means possible, for the continued delivery of such water as may be necessary for the proper operation of sewage collection, treatment, and disposal systems and facilities.
(e) Any residential or non-residential water customer who exceeds the allotments established pursuant to this water rationing will be subject to the following excess-use charges.
1. Excess-use charges will be collected based on the amount by which a customer’s use exceeds the water allotments established pursuant to the local water rationing declaration, computed in accordance with the following schedule:
Excess Usage Per Month | Charge For Excess |
First 2,000 gallons, or portion thereof | $7 per 1,000 gallons, or portion thereof |
Each 1,000 gallons, or portion thereof, thereafter | $15 |
2. Any monies collected through excess-use charges shall not be accounted for as income, but shall be placed in a reserve account that is dedicated to addressing water shortage problems and water conservation initiatives.
(f) In addition to the excess-use charge, noncompliance with the water rationing provisions of this chapter will result in the following:
1. For the first excess use, a warning of possible discontinuation shall be issued to the customer.
2. For the second or subsequent excess use, service to the customer may be interrupted or shut off for a period not to exceed 48 hours, or, if the customer provides access, a flow restrictor may be installed in the customer’s service line for the duration of the emergency. The cost incurred to interrupt or shut-off and reinstate service, or to install and remove a flow restrictor, shall be assessed to the water customer.
(3) Meter reading schedules are authorized to be altered to assure adequate monitoring of compliance with this chapter.
(4) Any customer or other person aggrieved by a decision or action imposing an excess-use charge or other remedy for noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter may proceed in accordance with the following provisions.
(a) The city shall adopt procedures which provide an opportunity for the customer or aggrieved party to rebut the finding of a violation, or provide evidence of circumstances beyond the customer’s control which resulted in the violation.
(b) A record of evidence regarding disputed violations shall be kept, and a written notice of the city’s final decision and action in such cases shall be provided to the customer or aggrieved party.
(c) Any person aggrieved by the final decision or action of a public utility or municipal corporation may file a complaint with the Public Service Commission in accordance with established procedures.
(Ord. 8-1988, passed 7-20-1988)