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City of Morgan Hill Comprehensive Water Report
Page D16
options available to Morgan Hill. Included in the Morgan Hill study will be recycled water
options, the feasibility of a scalping plant, and greywater. The Morgan Hill study will
provide more detail on distribution to potential customers, regulatory considerations, and
costs to provide recycled water. It is estimated that the study will be complete four months
after notice to proceed and will be presented to Council in late summer 2015.
2014 Drought and Response Activities
In response to calls from Governor Brown’s Office and the District for a 20% reduction in
water demand in early 2014, the City Council adopted a resolution on April 2, 2014
declaring a Level 1 Water Supply Shortage and directed staff to further engage customers
using the WaterSmart program. Under a Level 1 Water Supply Shortage, landscape
irrigation is limited to three days per week, leaks must be repaired quickly, and the
washing down of hard or paved surfaces is prohibited except when necessary to alleviate
safety or sanitary hazards.
With the City actively engaging the community in the Level 1 Shortage by sending out
notices and using the full array of City communication resources, the community
collectively reduced water demand by 550 million gallons and conserved over 20%
between March and December 2014. The graph below depicts monthly water production
since 2013. While the City led the District’s service area in responding to the drought, the
performance from month to month varied and it was clear that there were additional
opportunities to further reduce water demand. While the first two months of 2015 showed
a net increase in water production when compared to 2013, preliminary data from March
indicates that the community is now conserving a substantial amount of water.
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50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Million Gallons
Monthly Production 2013 - 2015
(million gallons)
2013
2014
2015