The Los Gatos Town Council adopted an urgency ordinance on May 5 that is directly related to the drought and will definitely impact residents’ summer lifestyles. Don’t expect the drought police to come knocking on your door just yet, but it is a possibility in the near future.

For the first time since the drought began, the San Jose Water Company that serves Los Gatos has provided water conservation figures that are somewhat specific to the town: The figures show people and businesses in the 95030, 95031 95032 and 95033 ZIP codes have a 9 percent voluntary conservation rate. The 95030 zip also applies to Monte Sereno.

The 9 percent figure is far below the state-mandated 20 percent conservation rate for San Jose Water Company customers.

The town itself has achieved a 25 percent conservation rate by reducing water use at town-owned buildings and parks. Now the council wants residents and businesses to also achieve a 25 percent conservation rate.

So the town plans to ask San Jose Water for money for education and code enforcement programs.

“Currently there’s a multi-phased enforcement approach where San Jose Water provides the first three steps of education, outreach and notification of violations,” parks and public works director Matt Morley said. “As I understand it, that’s largely been successful. There hasn’t been a need for the fourth phase, which would be the citation phase.”

Just as the drought is ongoing, the council plans to attack conservation on an ongoing basis, adding to the urgency ordinance as it sees fit. For starters, residents with irrigation systems that are on timers will be required to set those timers to water before 5 a.m.

The town itself is already complying with the same regulations it’s imposing on residents, Morley saying parks are watered “in the middle of the night.”

While most parks are getting water twice a week, heavy use parks like the Town Plaza will be watered three times a week this summer. But forget kids playing daily in the Plaza fountain–going forward, the fountain is only going to be turned on for three hours per week. That’s the minimum needed to keep the equipment in operating condition.

Also this summer, some sections of town parks will be allowed to go brown or revert to a more natural state. That’s the plan for Belgatos Park, which has a little-used field that will likely go dormant.

“Council needs to be comfortable with the fact that we’ll be allowing some turf to die,” Morley said.

Residents who use Bachman Park can expect to see a reduction in the turf area there, too.

The urgency ordinance that was approved by the town council must be formally adopted by mid-June.