Lawn watering ban to go before Santa Barbara City Council

A lawn watering ban is scheduled to go before the City of Santa Barbara during the council’s November 1st meeting.

The topic was presented Wednesday morning by Josh Haggmark during his Stage 3 Drought Update report before the city’s Water Commission.

“Santa Barbara County is truly the heart of the current drought crisis in California,” said Haggmark, manager of the City’s Water Resources Department.

Haggmark cited the latest report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that in essence reveals, experts there do not know if California will get significant rainfall or not.

So, the City of Santa Barbara is expected to move forward with plans as though the state will remain dry, overall, in the coming months.

Haggmark displayed a graph reflecting water conservation for the month of September among city users: 41 percent. He called it “fantastic” and said the “silver lining” to the water crisis has been the community’s response.

“It pains me that we have to ask for more,” Haggmark said.

40 percent will be the new average goal (hitting 30-35 percent in the winter months). The real shocker for some will be Haggmark’s suggestion of a 50 percent conservation goal for the summer months, citing the city’s “carry over” water from Cachuma Lake will end in December of this year.