Special to the Town Crier
Los Altos Hills residents are using too much water, but officials are at odds at what to do about it.
The Los Altos Hills City Council and Purissima Hills Water District Board of Directors held a joint meeting Friday to discuss a possible ordinance concerning water-efficient landscaping.
The water district proposed working together to create an ordinance that would set provisions to reduce water waste in established landscapes and establish restrictions on water use in new and redone landscapes.
City council members instead moved to have the water district draft recommended regulations and present them at a public meeting for residents' input and council's consideration.
"The fundamental problem arises because 85 percent of the water is used on landscaping in this town," said Purissima Hills Board member Maurice Johnson. "We need to let those people in San Francisco (supplier for Purissima Hills) know we are not water hogs, that we are not wasting water."
"Most of this great water we have goes on the ground," said Ernie Solomon, vice president of the board.
But council members were reluctant to develop the ordinance. Some said they were unwilling to get involved in an issue considered the responsibility of the water district and others questioned the need to regulate when not currently in a shortage.
"I don't know why you need to (regulate) unless we have a drought anyway," said council member Toni Casey.
But Los Altos Hills exceeds its allocated water by as much as 20 percent each year, according to Jan Fenwick, president of the Purissima Hills Board of Directors. The district's attempts to increase its present allocations, which are already double most nearby water districts', have not been taken seriously, since Los Altos Hills is considered a water-wasting district.
"The emergency to me is we aren't going to get any more water," said Sharyn Brown of the Environmental Design Committee.
Patrick Walter, manager of the water district, also expressed concern that people would have a false sense of security and be blindsided by sudden water restrictions "when, not if" a drought occurs, resulting in loss of costly landscaping.