Drought information
The Pine Brook Water District Board and the Pine Brook Hills community recognize that water resources are limited. While the existing water resources are generally adequate to meet the needs of the community, during times of drought the Board must impose additional measures and limitations to ensure all members of the community have sufficient water and share equitably in the limitations necessitated by measures to respond to the drought. This policy identifies the steps the Board and its designated representatives will take to address droughts or other water supply issues.
Responsive Measures:
If by June 30th of each year the Pine Brook Reservoir has not been filled the District Manager shall make an evaluation of the most reasonably expected supply status for the year. Based on that evaluation the District Manager shall make a recommendation to the Board of Directors whether any use restrictions should be imposed at that time. If the level of the Reservoir at that time is at 75% or less of its capacity than the District may impose restrictions. If a restriction is imposed the district manager or the manager's designee shall send by regular mail a written notice to all Pine Brook Hills residences informing them of such restriction.
The restriction levels to be considered may be, but are not limited to the following;
a restriction level not allowing any home to use more than 5,000 gallons per 10 days
(approximately 15,000 gallons per month)a restriction level not allowing any home to use more than 4,000 gallons per 10 days period (approximately 12,000 gallons per month)
a restriction level not allowing any home to use more than 3,000 gallons per 10 day period(approximately 9,000 gallons per month)
a restriction level not allowing any home to use more than 2,000 gallons per 10 day period (approximately 6,000 gallons per month)
If it is determined that restriction level #4 is not sufficient the District shall than impose a restriction level that they determine to be adequate and shall also ban all outside use of water.
The district manager may also elect to supplement these written notices by other communications, such as phone calls to community members, posting a sign at the entrance to Pine Brook Hills, or other measures.
Leak Rate Policy:
During a drought, the District's Leak Rate Policy is suspended. The restrictions imposed pursuant to this Drought Response Policy overrides the Leak Rate Policy.
Penalties:
Any residence that exceeds mandatory water usage limits by 1,000 gallons or more during any usage limit period after receipt of the written notice will be charged a penalty of $100 for each usage limit period during which mandatory water usage limits were exceeded unless the residence can document that a leak has been identified within the residence (no allowances are made for outside piping, other than the service line to the house ,). In the event of an internal leak, the residence will be allowed an additional 5-day grace period to have the leak fixed.
In addition, any residence that exceeds mandatory water usage limits by 1,000 gallons or more during any usage limit period after receipt of the written notice that they exceeded the usage limit for any period will be subject to immediate water shut-off that may last until the end of the responsive measures.
For purposes of calculating water usage, the usage as measured by the residence's water meter shall be deemed conclusive unless the residence can demonstrate that the meter was defective in a manner that precluded accurate measurement of the usage.
Exemptions and Allowances:
Any resident requiring greater water use as a result of a medical condition is exempt from these drought restrictions so long as that resident has applied for and obtained an exemption from the Board.
Adopted July 12th, 2007 by the Board of Directors of the Pine Brook Water District