What are the rules and restrictions?

Our watering restrictions are in effect now. We will inform all affected customers by mail if there are any modifications to the current restrictions. 

Because we are not able to observe every instance of water waste, we have an online reporting process to help us follow up on suspected waste. If you see water waste occurring, you can report it to us online at www.calwater.com/conservation/report. As part of our customer-first approach, we prefer to educate customers about prohibited uses of water before issuing penalties.

We recommend watering for 5-7 minutes, 2-3 times per assigned day, to maximize the benefit of irrigation. This is more effective than watering for longer periods of time, which may lead to runoff and inefficient irrigation.

At this time, we have not implemented water budgets that require a specific reduction amount for each customer. However, we encourage all customers to reduce their use by at least 20 percent, which is the amount the Governor has called for.

If you dispute a penalty that has been assessed, you may call your local Cal Water office to speak with a customer service representative. 

Customers will receive information by mail any time there are changes to their irrigation restrictions or other drought-related modifications. We will also notify customers through other channels, but mail ensures all customers will receive the information.

We prefer to achieve greater water-use reductions by engaging and educating customers about voluntarily conserving water and avoiding water waste. Our customers have done a great job stepping up and saving water in the past, and we hope they will respond to the call to reduce water use again. If we cannot achieve the needed water savings through voluntary conservation, we may be required to implement water budgets in the future.

Our Water Resource Sustainability Team continues to monitor supply and demand on an ongoing basis. Any future decisions will be based on our assessment of local supply and demand conditions, but we prefer to achieve the needed reductions voluntarily, so that we don’t have to implement additional restrictions for customers. If we cannot reduce customer water use to the levels needed, we may need to implement water budgets. If this occurs, we will take a customer-first approach like we did during the last drought. We will also notify all affected customers.