"Conserve…It's a California Way of Life" acknowledges that water efficiency makes California more resilient to the impacts for future droughts.
During California's recent 7 year drought, Gold Mountain residents did their share to support California drought measures by reducing water usage by 28% over 2013 levels, surpassing the state target of 25%.  
The GMCSD relies on wells drilled deep into the granite aquifer for the majority of our water.  These wells are slow to react to climate changes, and often lag behind climate conditions by as much as two years.  During the height of the recent drought our wells continued to produce a near normal levels but now, 2 years after the drought was declared over, we are seeing reduced output in these wells.  This is a normal part of managing water supplies in this region and to ensure a viable long term supply of domestic water, the CSD in the process of developing two new well sites.  But even with a 4th well online, the CSD and the community will need to continue to work in partnership to make water conservation an everyday practice. 
 

GOLD MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT AND THE DROUGHT

The GMCSD supports the California Water Board's position that efficient water use is the most cost-effective way to achieve long term conservation goals, as well as to provide for water supply reliability. Under the most recent California legislation (SB606 and AB 1668), water conservation mandates fall on water providers. The recent  bills call for creation of new urban efficiency standards for indoor use, outdoor use, and water lost to leaks, however these new regulations will not go into effect until 2022 at the earliest.  Water agencies will be required to develop their own objectives and report water usage on a monthly basis on an aggregate level. The CSD recently upgraded water meters to a new wireless technology that records and reports actual water usage by the minute over time.  These meters will allow the CSD to better understand water use patterns throughout the community to meet the new reporting requirements.  

The indoor water use standard will be 55 gallons per person per day, but represents the aggregate usage across the community. The outdoor water use standard will be based on land cover, climate, and other factors and will be set for the District by the end of 2022. The Department of Water Resources will also define performance measures for Commercial, Institutional, and Industrial (CII) water use by the end of 2021. The new legislation will also provide protections for mall water suppliers and rural communities that may be at risk of drought and water shortage vulnerability and provide recommendations for drought planning. As these new regulations come into effect, the CSD will promulgate more information on required water conservation measures. Note that the CSD provides all owners water use emails each month providing your water usage for the previous reporting period allowing owners to monitor and track their water use.