Officials relieved Foster Farms water won’t count for Livingston

Livingston city officials on Tuesday said they were relieved to hear the city received a reprieve from state-mandated water use reductions.

The city has ranked worst in the state in water savings.

Livingston is home to Foster Farms’ headquarters, which is by far the biggest water user in the city. So, the city received the first alternative compliance order from the State Water Resources Control Board last week, which means the meat processor’s water use won’t count against the city’s conservation efforts.

The city’s water savings for June and July averaged 5.2 percent. The state’s mandate for Livingston is 32 percent.

Mayor Pro Tem Gurpal Samra has said several times this year that the city would not be able to reach the mandate if the company’s use counts against conservation efforts. He said the news from the state was a relief.

The most recent numbers for the city would have met the state mandate for conservation, Samra said, if allowed to exclude Foster Farms water use. “Last time I looked it was 32.3 percent,” he said. “I knew we were really close or we hit it.”

In 2013, Foster Farms used 58 percent of the city’s water. Last year, the company’s share was 67 percent, and through July 2015 the portion escalated to 69 percent, state officials say.

Foster Farms employs about 3,000 people in its Livingston plant and several hundred more in the company’s business offices. Its annual payroll exceeds $131 million, company officials say.

The company has to follow regulations for cleaning and processing chicken. So the company can only reduce its use by so much before it affects the bottom line.

The state’s goal for the water conservation mandate was to reduce landscape watering and conserve wherever else possible, not create a public health emergency or significant economic impact, said Eric Oppenheimer, director of the Office of Research Planning and Performance for the State Water Resources Control Board.

But water conservation efforts will not end when an alternative compliance order goes into effect on Sept. 18. Livingston must still maintain several programs to improve its conservation numbers.

They include: Assign staff to support water efficiency and code enforcement; hang banners in strategic city locations to increase awareness of water conservation; modify the city website to include more information about prohibited water use and limits on outdoor irrigation; distribute water conservation materials at downtown street fairs for the next six months; and explore water conservation grant programs, such as those that offer incentives for turf and toilet replacement.

Samra maintains the city has been observing most of those requirements for months now. He said the city and its residents have taken water conservation seriously.

“From the beginning, we understood and understand the drought situation we’re in,” he said.

The state also issued alternative mandates to a few other small cities where large food processors are located, like Lemoore, Sanger and Hanford. Farms and ranches where food is grown or raised are already exempt.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Officials relieved Foster Farms water won’t count for Livingston."