Clovis City Council to vote on easing city water restrictions

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Residents in the city of Clovis were fined over $700,000 for not meeting state-mandated conservation goals last year.

The state is now allowing cities to set their own conservation standards.

The Clovis City Council is expected to vote Monday night to eliminate the 36 percent reduction target and add another watering day.

Four dry years inspired Raul Rodriguez to replace his lush green front lawn with a drought-tolerant landscape. Succulents, plants and pavers will be surrounded by mulch.

"I just felt it was wrong that I had all this beautiful green grass and then you had people in Porterville, in Madera Ranchos, they were running out of water," he said.

The state called on Clovis residents to reduce their water usage by 36 percent last year, but a wet winter has helped build up an adequate water supply for the city.

Clovis Assistant Public Utilities Director Lisa Koehn expects the city council to approve the elimination of the emergency water usage limitations.

"I think most customers will be happy to know that they will potentially have three days a week they can do their outside irrigation because it's very difficult to maintain your landscape on two days a week," she said.

Lacey Niznak and her family were thrilled to hear that. They've been cutting back on their water use to avoid fines.

"They take like five, maybe seven-minute showers where it used to be we didn't care," Niznak explained. "Honestly, as you can see with ours, it kinds of kills our lawn."

"If we could water just a little bit more it would help a little."

Four months of $25 and $50 conservation fines for using too much water served their purpose and have already been lifted, but Rodriguez says that doesn't mean people should stop looking at ways to reduce their water use.

"I just think we have to, as a society, just not waste as much," he said.