San Clemente Taps Conservation Plan as Water Use Rises

San Clemente residents and land developers are using water faster than the city can get it.

A 10% increase in water use in San Clemente this summer has forced officials to launch a major conservation effort, said Greg Morehead, the city’s utilities manager.

Construction of new homes in undeveloped parts of the city appears to be the major cause of the 10% increase in water usage, compared to the summer of 1988, he said.

“This isn’t a crisis, but it’s a problem,” said Morehead. “And when we spot a problem, we try to correct it before it becomes a crisis.”

Morehead said the root of the problem is that water cannot be pumped into the Tri-Cities Reservoir, in north San Clemente, as fast as it is being consumed. “It’s not a drought problem,” he said. “The water is available to us, and it’s coming into the reservoir at the maximum (rate).”

But usage has increased so much that the reservoir’s water level never gets back to the “comfortable” point, Morehead said. The city put out a water-conservation alert to city residents last week.

Interim City Manager Greg Hulsizer said Friday that residents appear to be heeding the city’s call for more cautious water use.

“It appears we’re getting cooperation,” Hulsizer said. “What we want to do is keep it in the forefront, and do everything we can to save water. For instance, we’re telling people that reducing the time automatic sprinklers are turned on by even one minute a day would be a significant help. That’s something that can be done quickly and easily.”

Morehead said the water-shortage problem came to the city’s attention about three weeks ago. He said the Tri-Cities Reservoir could not come back to its former level, despite constant pumping from the Colorado River and the state’s aqueduct from Northern California.

The reservoir, he said, supplies the San Onofre nuclear plant in San Diego County, Capistrano Beach, and San Clemente State Beach, as well as the city of San Clemente. But he said a check of water usage showed that San Clemente had the biggest increase in water usage.

“I think the increase in water use in San Clemente is from a number of things, and one component is growth,” he said. “The major component is water being used for the development areas. It takes a lot of water to compact the soil, keep dust down and keep new vegetation growing in the development areas. These areas are inland, farther from the ocean, and so the temperature is warmer there.”

Morehead said developers have been asked to reduce water usage “and they agreed to cut back as much as they could without impacting themselves monetarily.”

Morehead said the overall goal is to reduce water usage throughout the city by 10%--the same amount as the unexpected increase in use this summer.

“We’re getting good cooperation,” Morehead said. “We’ve even gotten calls from people saying ‘thank you.’ ”