City to cut water usage by 40%

Get ready, Clayton. Brown is the “in” color for summer, at least for lawn and turf.
Residents and communities across the state are mandated to cut their water usage by at least 25 percent this summer, the fourth year of a historic drought. The City of Clayton is no exception, as they are cutting back water usage a whopping 40 percent from 2013 levels, said City Manager Gary Napper.
“The state’s extended drought represents a serious challenge for all in California and requires each resident and property owner in Clayton to prioritize one’s water consumption habits,” he said.  “For the city, our 40-43 percent reduction in water usage, in comparison to the 25 percent reduction assigned residential users, necessitates staff evaluate which water-dependent assets and facilities are the more essential to retain and operate.”
For example, he said, landscaped plants and specimen trees will be the targets of the city’s limited outdoor irrigation at the sacrifice of lawn and turf. The two-days per week outdoor irrigation constraint imposed on residents by the Contra Costa Water District last month also applies to the city and “we’ll undoubtedly see visual stress to trees and plants as the hot summer days set in.”
“It is no longer ‘business as usual’” he said.
Clayton residents will undoubtedly see the stress on lawns and turf, but some areas, such as The Grove Park and some downtown areas, are served by well water, and can be watered three times a week. The main area that will be affected, according to Clayton’s Maintenance Supervisor Mark Janney, is the Community Park and fields, which will only be watered twice a week.
“They won’t look so great,” he said.
Historically, Janney said, the city uses about 300,000-400,000 gallons per day, but it has been cutting back that usage in recent years due to the drought. So cutting nearly half of that will definitely impact what the residents see in public areas around town. When the city faced similar cutbacks in 2009, trees, shrubs, groundcovers and newer planting areas were given watering priority over turf, Janney said. That will again be the priority.
In a recent memo to his staff, Napper outlined the water cutbacks. On the “hit list” were all public landscaped lawns, except the Clayton Fountain. Due to recent landscape renovations, this area has a high-efficiency irrigation system meeting the state’s Water Conversation Ordinance. The city will water it just two days a week as mandated; if the irrigation system can’t keep the lawn area semi-green with just the two day watering schedule, city staff will reevaluate and determine if the system should be shut down during the summer months.
Lawns that will not be watered include North Valley Park and Stranahan Park. As Janney said, the Clayton Community Park will be irrigated for the allowed two-days-per-week to try to keep the fields semi-green for play. At this time, the irrigation runs Monday night and Thursday night with the irrigation water meters shut down in between to prevent loss of water from mainline breaks.
Groundwater Wells Help
Luckily, like some of the downtown areas, the parks in Westwood, The Grove, and Lydia Lane all use groundwater well water, which aren’t subject to the state water restrictions and can be watered three times a week.
Other areas that will be excluded from cutbacks include the lawns in the downtown area at the Oak Street exit and ramp to Main Street, the tear drop (roses and boxwood island) on Main Street, and the area surrounding the Holiday Tree. These areas receive water from an existing city groundwater well.
Another area that uses groundwater is around the Clayton Community Library. This well, in addition to irrigating the library grounds, supplies the water to irrigate the Clayton Road landscape from the Oakhurst Drive intersection to the Mitchell Canyon Road intersection, along old Marsh Creek Road from Clayton Road to Main Street, at the Town Center Sign grounds, and at the Main Street tear drop island.
Napper also said that all landscaping supplied with water from CCWD must be watered only two days per week, with no watering between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., no run-off, and breaks must be repaired as soon as possible.
“It’s a big deal,” said Clayton City Councilwoman Julie Pierce. “Luckily we have planted many drought-tolerant plants throughout the city, so we’ll just have to see how they stand up to the hot summer months. I’m sure by September many of the plants and lawns in Clayton will be showing stress.”
“It’s a serious problem,” she says. “We have to cut back.”
Oakhurst Cutting Back
Also cutting back is the Oakhurst Country Club, said General Manager Tony Eichers. The golf course’s fairways and the roughs will be watered just twice a week, with the greens and tees three times, but only in the evening hours.
“It actually will make the fairways harder, which make the balls go faster,” he said. “Our users might like it better.”

Oakhurst buys well water from the City of Clayton, which allows for the additional watering.
“I think we’ll be able to keep the greens in good shape, but it’s the ancillary areas that will suffer,” he said, including the patches of grass facing Clayton Road, and areas around the pool and tennis courts. They will be cut down to twice a week watering.
“We need to do our part, too, to conserve water,” he said.
He doesn’t foresee any fee adjustments because of the drought situation, but he will ask golfers to drive carts on the trails and not on the grass because that will distress the greens even more.