WATER DEMAND COMMITTEE
ITEM:		DISCUSSION ITEM
3.	DISCUSS UPDATES TO NON-RESIDENTIAL WATER USE FACTORS
Meeting Date:			October 31, 2019	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Stephanie Locke	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: Action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines section 15378.

SUMMARY: MPWMD Rule 24, Table 2 (Exhibit 3-A) lists the different factors used by the District to calculate the Water Use Capacity and Capacity Fees for Non-Residential uses. The use of factors based on square-footage or another measurement dates to the adoption of Ordinance No. 21 on March 11, 1985. The factors are determined by reviewing actual water use data for similar types of businesses and applying a common measurement (e.g., square-footage, number of rooms, restaurant seats, etc.). Staff refers to these factors as “regional averages.”

As the District began to allocate water from the Paralta Well in 1993, it established a Citizen’s Financial Advisory Committee that assigned a subcommittee to look at ways to simplify the permit process as one of its charges. At that time, there were more than 46 individual use factors. That number of factors presented hardships when a use changed and additional water was needed from the Jurisdiction. The subcommittee recommended that there be “grouped” factors for certain common uses that would allow tenants with similar Water Use Capacity the flexibility to change without the requirement for a Water Permit. Grouped factors were adopted with Ordinance No. 71 in early 1994.

The Non-Residential water use factors were largely updated by staff in 1988 and 1993. An attempt was made by A & N Technical Services to do a more thorough comprehensive update in 2011 using Water Permit data, statistical modeling, and using use information from Cal-Am’s rate surveys. Ultimately, there were numerous difficulties with matching the District’s and Cal-Am’s records and consumption information, and the study was received with no action. A copy of the staff report and study are attached as Exhibit 3-B.

Over the past thirty years, there have been updates to specific factors, often associated with action on a Water Permit. The Water Demand Committee has recommended changes that were implemented, such as eliminating the factor for “luxury hotel” rooms. Factors that have been updated include: assisted living, skilled nursing, self-storage, hotel, restaurant outdoor seating, bars, supermarkets, schools, gas stations, meeting halls, dry cleaning and laundromats. There have also been shifts in the types of uses that are in each “group.” Often the factor is amended downward to reflect lower consumption as the result of technology.

RECOMMENDATION: This item is for discussion only.

EXHIBITS

3-A MPWMD Rule 24, Table 2, Non-Residential Water Use Factors

3-B October 11, 2011 staff report and exhibit: A & N Technical Services report

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