City Of Ceres Says State's Mandatory Water Cuts Unfair

CERES (CBS13) - The city of Ceres saved 1% in April over the same month in 2013. As a result, the city needs to save 28% more water starting this month.

But Ceres public works says its one percent water conservation for April is an unfair assessment. It says the people in this city drastically cut their water long before these restrictions, all the way back in 2010.

Ceres water meter technicians say they don't give out that many water waste citations any more.

"We still have the people who say, 'Well, I paid for it, so I should get as much water as I want.' But we do have the people who go above and beyond conserving water," said Jesse Solis, a Ceres water meter technician.

But if most people are conserving in Ceres, why does the state water board report for Ceres in April show such a poor result?

"The water board has the one snapshot that says it's one percent. For the calendar year to date, we're about a 3 to 4 percent savings," said Jeremy Damas, deputy director of public works.

This year, Ceres needs to reduce its water use by 28 percent. But here's the problem: Public works says the state is comparing its water reduction to water use in 2013. Ceres cut water drastically years before.

"We started our water conservation in 2010 like we were asked to. Two-thousand-seven numbers say 262 gallons per person, so that's over a 50 percent savings from then to 2014," said Damas.

Ceres won't shut off anyone's water to reach the conservation target.

"We didn't get to these numbers here being so flat without giving out a lot of citations and fines over the years," he said.

Instead, Ceres is working with homeowners to reach their own personalized water use targets. Last week, the city offered to pay a dollar per acre for homeowners to rip up lawns and replace them with drought resistant plants and rocks.

But what about the state's threat to impose a $10,000-per-day fine for cities not reaching their conservation targets?

"The money isn't going to help them. They need to reduce the water," said Damas.

Ceres public works suspects water board officials may pay a visit to Ceres to educate on water savings, instead of having Ceres pay a bigger bill.