Model Rationing Plan - Be Prepared for the Next Drought

摘要

This paper describes a model rationing plan designed for ten cities and districts distributing water to an urban population of 505,700 located in the northern California counties of Sonoma and Marin. Water is supplied by the Sonoma County Water Agency via an aqueduct system connecting to the Russian River, which is in part regulated by US Army Corps of Engineer reservoirs. The plan consists of three potential stages:rnStage 1 A voluntary lead-in stage calling for an immediate interim-step reduction in demand andrnprohibiting certain water uses.rnStage 2 A mandatory community cooperation (honor system) stage, Stage 3 A mandatory allotment stage to be deployed in the event voluntary compliance with rationingrngoals is not achieved in Stage 2.rnThe plan puts into practice important lessons learned from the droughts that have plagued California off and on since the mid-1970's. Supporting the model plan and also described in the paper are two EXCEL spreadsheet models: one that calculates the overall rationing goals and allotments and one that calculates revenue loss that will occur assuming successful implementation of the plan.