Clovis adds a day to watering schedule for customers | The Fresno Bee

Clovis residents can now water three days a week instead of two and will be charged a nondrought rate, but Fresno city officials say they will maintain a two-day-a-week watering schedule.

Clovis has “self-certified” to the state that it can meet water-supply demands over the next three years. The city has adequate supplies, which allows it to increase usage limits, officials say.

The state has lifted mandatory restrictions for suppliers such as Clovis but requires them to ensure that they will have enough water for the next three years, said Lisa Koehn, assistant public utilities director for Clovis.

The new watering rules went into effect after the City Council approved the plan Monday night. The city will continue to require one-day-a-week watering between November and March.

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Last year, the city was required by the state to cut consumption 36 percent from 2013 usage. Residents risked fines if they didn’t cut their water use by the state mandate. Earlier this year, the mandate was lowered to 33 percent.

If the city hadn’t certified its supplies, it would remain under the 33 percent mandate, Koehn said.

Clovis has part ownership in a water bank that can supply the city, if needed. Clovis also uses highly treated water from its sewer plant and water recycling facility for landscaping around the city.

Koehn said she expects residents to continue to reduce water use from 2013 levels by about 10 to 15 percent.

Fresno city officials were working on their self-certification reports Wednesday to submit to the state, as the deadline to submit information for self-certification was Wednesday.

The city will keep its watering schedule at two days a week for now, said Mark Standriff, city spokesman.

The state will evaluate each supplier’s self-certification, said Max Gomberg, conservation manager for the state Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento.

“We are not going to go in and second-guess,” he said. “We will review for completeness and accuracy.”

If water board officials find something amiss in supply projections or inconsistent with what the agency knows about a community, they will flag it and ask for a closer look, Gomberg said.

The information is supposed to be available for anyone to examine, he said.

“It is going to take us several days to review the submissions,” said George Kostyrko, director of communications for the water board. “Since this is new, we are going to take the time necessary to ensure accuracy.”