Town of Superior Drought Mitigation Information

Drought Monitoring

Drought monitoring is a science. A drought will likely begin with a small event and become more severe. Droughts may last a month or several years.

When projecting water supply for the Town, March, April and May are typically the critical months for monitoring and evaluating drought severity. Historically, this is the time when reservoirs approach their lowest levels, while snowpack measurements provide reasonable projections of runoff for the coming season. The amount of water in storage and the projected runoff determine the Town’s ability to meet water demands.

Droughts can vary significantly in extent, severity and duration, and don't impact each municipality in a region equally. The Town’s drought stages were developed to capture this variability and to identify an appropriate level of response based on drought severity.

The four stages increase in intensity from watch to warning to severe to emergency:

• Stage I – Watch: A WSI* of .85 to 0.95 results in a targeted 10% annual water savings
• Stage II – Warning: A WSI of .75 to 0.85 results in a targeted 20% annual water savings
• Stage III – Severe: A WSI of .65 to 0.75 results in a targeted 30% annual water savings
• Stage IV – Emergency: A WSI of .65 or less results in a targeted 50% or greater annual water savings

*WSI stands for Water Supply Index, and is a formula utilized to compare water storage amounts, projected supplies, and demands. Please reference the full Drought Mitigation Plan for an explanation of this formula.

The Town monitors drought indicators throughout the year to better understand watershed hydrology and how to manage the Town’s water supply system. These drought indicators include snowpack, precipitation records, stream flows, river calls, reservoir levels and the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Water Use Priorities

Response measures that limit and/or restrict water use of certain end-users should be implemented in a manner that reflects the Town’s water use priorities, with the highest priority being the preservation of water for health and safety purposes during periods of drought.

The Town’s water use priorities are the following in order:

1. Health and safety: single-family residential, multi-housing, water treatment plant, hydrants for emergency use and wastewater treatment plant.
2. Business: indoor use by the commercial and public sector, including schools, stores, offices, hotels, restaurants and outdoor use on golf courses.
3. Public outdoor irrigation: parks, sports fields and open spaces.
4. Construction water: water used for construction purposes.
5. Outdoor irrigation: outdoor irrigation in single- and multi-family residences, and public and commercial sectors.

Drought mitigation refers to actions taken in advance of a drought that reduce potential drought-related impacts when the event occurs. Drought response planning concerns the conditions under which a drought-induced water supply shortage occurs and specifies the actions to be taken in response.

Mitigation and response strategies that focus on managing the water supply system are generally referred to as supply-side actions. Demand-side mitigation and response strategies focus on actions the Town can take to promote or enforce reductions in customer water demand.

The Town’s mitigation measures include:

• Drought mitigation planning
• Ongoing monitoring of drought indicators
• Development of new water supplies
• Development of cooperative sharing agreement opportunities with neighboring communities during periods of drought
• Continuing existing operation and maintenance activities that improve water distribution efficiency
• New operation and maintenance activities that improve water distribution efficiency
• Conservation measures specified in the Conservation Plan
• Standard practices of the Town

Many of the Town’s standard operations focus on water conservation, providing multi-year water savings, and drought mitigation during dry periods. These include annual irrigation audits on Town-owned parks and open spaces, removal of turf grass where appropriate, routine education of Town staff on how to save water, and use of low-volume irrigation instead of sprinklers and misters where appropriate.

Public Information Campaign

The public drought education campaign will be one of the Town’s largest drought management efforts.

The public drought campaign will be a partnership between Public Works and Utilities, which provides subject matter expertise and messaging direction, and the Communications and Community Engagement Department, which manages channels, production and distribution, in coordination with Town Council.

This campaign will promote the importance of conserving water and achieving water savings in drought years. During non-drought years, the drought campaign component will provide a general overview of drought and the importance of drought preparedness. During a drought, drought messages will increase in frequency and intensity and will be expanded to include information on the staged drought response program and the necessity to conserve supplies.

The objectives of the public drought campaign are to:

• Provide concise, effective drought information to the Town’s customers and the media.
• Adjust the intensity of the public outreach effort in accordance with the severity of the drought stage.
• Coordinate campaign efforts with nearby municipal and conservation-oriented entities to keep drought messaging consistent across the region.

Staged Drought Response

The Town’s staged drought response program includes four stages. Each stage is tied to drought severity and a corresponding water savings target.

• Stage I – Watch
  Stage I is the watch drought stage. The annual reduction target is 10% water savings. Voluntary practices will not be enforced at this stage. Town staff will communicate internally to ensure that best practices for municipal operations outlined in the Plan are followed.
• Stage II – Warning
  Stage II is the warning drought stage. The annual reduction target is 20% water savings. Response measures are mandatory and enforcement procedures apply.
• Stage III – Severe
  Stage III is the severe drought stage. The annual reduction target is 30% water savings. Response measures are mandatory and enforcement procedures apply.
• Stage IV – Emergency
  Stage IV is the emergency drought stage. The annual reduction target is 50% water savings, with additional savings during the non-irrigation season. Response measures are mandatory and enforcement procedures apply.

The staged drought response program requires a means of enforcement beyond simply educating the public. The Town’s enforcement level will be tailored to the severity of the drought stage and to the public’s responsiveness to mandatory drought response measures.

During the Watch drought stage, no enforcement will be necessary, given that the majority of drought response is voluntary. For the remaining drought stages, enforcement may consist of a call-in service where customers have an opportunity to report infractions, patrol of neighborhood and business districts to identify owners/residents that are in violation of mandatory restrictions/requirements, and issuing citations and appropriate penalties based on the drought stage and number of violations.

The Town Manager and staff will ensure that appropriate enforcement messages are conveyed to the public through the Communications and Community Engagement Department in coordination with Finance and other departments, as needed.