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MANTECA, Calif. (KTXL) — The Manteca City Council is expected to declare a drought emergency at Tuesday’s meeting, which will tighten water restrictions for residents, businesses and even at city hall.

Dry lawns will soon be the norm in Manteca. Going from green to golden is now the goal.

“Residents can expect to see yellow and brown lawns, yellow and brown public spaces, parks, etc,” Public Works Director Carl Brown said. 

Businesses, churches, schools and hospitals will soon be banned from watering their decorative lawns as part of the city and state’s efforts to save water. 

“We want to educate the public and we want them to be our partner in conserving water,” Brown said.

Brown said the water restrictions are in response to the state’s ongoing drought. 

“We’re following the state and the governor’s lead declaring this drought emergency,” Brown told FOX40.

The emergency declaration will move the city into Stage 2 of its water shortage contingency plans.

“We’ve seen some minor reductions but nowhere near what the governor had asked for. And so that’s why we’re going to go ahead and do a mandatory 20%,” George Montross, Public Works deputy director, said.

According to the state, banning the watering of non-functional lawns will save hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water a year. 

“If everybody’s doing their part. Then we’re going to go out and see some brown lawns,” Montross said.

Public works officials said residents are also being asked to do their part to weather the drought. 

“Oftentimes, we found that outside irrigation is the biggest use of water for our residents, so reducing the amount of time and the days that they’re watering will really help scale back for the amount of water they’re utilizing,” Brown said.

The city offered some tips on how to save water. 

“They can do things such as checking irrigation for leaks, reducing the amount of time that they’re irrigating, checking the toilets and faucets for leaks as well,” Brown said.

The city said they’re taking an education first approach before they move to enforcement and begin fining people and businesses for wasting water.