Fountain Valley adopts resolution declaring end to water supply shortage

Fountain Valley has declared an end to a water supply shortage it had been observing for the past 11 months.

The City Council, at its May 2 meeting, voted unanimously to adopt a resolution restoring the normal water supply conditions for the community.

Gov. Gavin Newsom had declared a state of emergency concerning drought for all of California on Oct. 19, 2021. The California State Water Resources Control Board subsequently implemented emergency measures on May 24, 2022, including required water supply and demand assessments, implementation of water use reduction measures, and a prohibition on the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf at commercial, industrial and institutional facilities.

Fountain Valley declared a Level 2 water supply shortage on June 21, 2022, calling on its residents to reduce their water usage by 11 to 20%.

Following a winter that saw frequent rainfall and significant snow in California, Newsom issued a new executive order on March 24 that no longer required local water agencies to employ Level 2 of their drought contingency plans.

In returning Fountain Valley’s water supply conditions to pre-drought levels, residents will no longer be limited to watering three days per week on a set schedule.

The state ban on the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf at commercial, industrial and institutional sites remains in effect.

City facilities with stretches of nonfunctional turf impacted by the ban include City Hall, Fire Station No. 2, the city yard, and the senior center. That restriction also applies to homeowners associations.

“This would require us to still adhere to our permanent water conservation practices that the city has in our municipal code to prohibit the waste of water and to encourage efficient use of it,” Christine Smith, a senior management analyst for the city, said of the resolution. “We still will be holding to the state’s ban on using potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf at commercial, industrial and institutional sites.

“I would like to thank Fountain Valley for making every drop count,” Smith continued. “This is my second drought with the city, and our residents and our businesses always do a great job. Since July 1, 2022, we have saved over 239 million gallons of water.”

Councilman Patrick Harper asked if water prices would decrease with the region moving beyond the drought. Smith replied that the city’s water prices are locked in based on a water rate study. She added that the last rate study happened more than five years ago.

As to a question about a timeline for the next water rate study posed by Councilman Ted Bui, city officials said that a water master plan would precede a future rate study.

“The reason why we waited to do the water master plan is we are waiting for the general plan update,” Public Works Director Hye Jin Lee said. “The general plan update has a lot of higher-density land uses. We wanted to make sure we capture what the full build out condition will be, so if we’re going to be replacing any pipes, we want to make sure we build it for the future capacity.

“We’re going to be tackling now our water master plan, and after that, we’ll identify priority improvements, and then we’ll do a rate study to accurately assess how much funds we need, and basically capitalize and annualize it for our customers.”