Water-use restrictions went into effect Nov. 1 for residents and businesses in the city of St. Helena, where a water shortage emergency has been declared.

The city’s water emergency was first declared June 23 based on extremely low rainfall — 20 inches — and a forecast for a potential multi-year drought. Further, Bell Canyon Reservoir was at 60 percent capacity. The city implemented changes in June to conserve Bell Canyon water usage by optimizing Stonebridge Wells and City of Napa water use.

At the time, the St. Helena City Council established Phase I water regulations, meaning conditions requiring the establishment of a Phase II water emergency appeared to be imminent.

The St. Helena City Council declared a Phase II water emergency Oct. 27 and directed city staff to form a Water Advisory Board and enact Phase II water regulations. The restrictions, which became effective Nov. 1, were based on the following criteria:

  1. The volume of water anticipated to be available prior to the next Nov. 1 from all potable water sources is not sufficient to meet the projected demands through Nov. 1 without demand reduction measures beyond the Phase I reductions being implemented; or
  2. Conditions requiring the establishment of a Phase III water emergency appear imminent.
  3. In assessing the need to impose Phase II restrictions, due weight shall be accorded to the trigger system developed by the safe yield committee for use by the director of Public Works. The trigger system is based on water levels in Bell Canyon Reservoir, with the level necessary to trigger a water emergency being adjusted each month to reflect the supply capacity of groundwater and water to be delivered by the city of Napa at that time. Details of the system can be obtained from the director of Public Works.

Under Phase II restrictions effective Nov. 1, the following mandatory water conservation actions are enforced by the city’s Public Works Department:

  1. Commercial, industrial, and institutional users other than dedicated irrigation accounts will receive an allocation per billing period which will be ten percent (10%) less than the average use during the four winter months of the preceding non-shortage year; provided, that no commercial, industrial, or institutional user will be required to reduce usage to less than sixty (60) gallons per day. Users with no prior record of use shall be governed by comparable facilities’ usage records as determined by the department. Commercial, industrial, and institutional customers with irrigation and domestic use provided by the same water meter may receive an additional landscape allocation of up to seventy (70) gallons per day per thousand (1,000) square feet of landscaped area during April through October by documenting the landscaped square footage served by city water to the satisfaction of the director of public works. For purposes of landscape allocation, the April allocation period will begin on the date the water meter is read in April, and the October allocation period will end on the date the water meter is read in November.
  2. Residential users in the single-family residential, multifamily residential, mobile home and manufactured homes customer classes will receive an allocation per billing period which will be limited to sixty-five (65) gallons per person per day. Single-family residences will receive an additional twenty- five hundred (2,500) gallons per month from April through October for landscape irrigation. Multifamily residential, mobile home and manufactured homes customers may receive a landscape allocation of up to seventy (70) gallons per day per thousand (1,000) square feet of landscaped area during April through October by documenting the landscaped square footage served by city water to the satisfaction of the director of public works. For purposes of landscape allocation, the April allocation period will begin on the date the water meter is read in April, and the October allocation period will end on the date the water meter is read in November.
  3. For a lawn, landscaping, vineyard or field watered or irrigated through a meter dedicated to that use, usage shall be limited to sixty percent (60%) of current reference evapotranspiration as established in the California Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO) or successor regulations.
  4. No new water connections shall be permitted during a Phase II water emergency.

In addition to the above criteria, the City Council will work to form a Water Advisory Board composed of one City Council member, one Planning Commissioner, one winery customer, and two members of the public, one of whom shall be solely a residential customer.

The city said it will continue to present up-to-date water data and forecasts on a monthly basis at City Council meetings.