MWD Slashes Water Supplies to Agencies 31%

Faced with record low rainfall and no prospects for relief, the Metropolitan Water District declared a water emergency Tuesday and imposed a 31% cut in the amount of water it delivers to 27 agencies from Ventura to San Diego.

The 46-1 vote by the MWD’s board of directors--a move widely dreaded but not unexpected--marked the most severe water cutback in the giant agency’s history and signaled the increasing severity of the drought, now in its fifth year.

While conceding that the nearly one-third cut is dramatic and could prompt mandatory water rationing in many areas, MWD officials warned that harsher reductions may lie ahead for Southern California if dry conditions persist.

Many communities already are preparing for that day. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to approve a mandatory rationing plan next week, ordering a 10% reduction from the 1986 water use level on March 1 and a 15% reduction on May 1.

“If we can’t get water from the heavens then we have to create it and the way we create it is to conserve,” said director S. Dell Scott, who represents Los Angeles. “The message is conservation, and I have always believed that the guy who turns on the tap has got to pay the bill.”

The board also agreed to allocate $30 million from the MWD’s reserve fund to buy water from other sources around the state. Rice farmers in the Sacramento area may be willing to take some land out of production this year and sell their water to thirsty cities.

Realizing that public awareness of the drought is vital to the success of conservation programs, the board allocated $3.5 million for an advertising campaign. It agreed to provide its member agencies with $5 million to implement programs urging residents to install water-saving shower heads and other devices.

To achieve the 31% reduction, the MWD will cut deliveries for residential usage by 20% and those for agriculture by 50%. Water agencies will have the discretion to allocate their share as they wish. Some areas with economies that are heavily dependent on agriculture may choose to impose an evenly divided cut on farmers and residential customers.

The board’s vote spurred a chorus of groans from representatives of agencies in six Southern California counties that are supplied by the MWD.

Many officials predicted that coping with the cutback, which takes effect March 1, would be a hardship certain to change lives and put a strain on agriculture and other businesses.

“This is a terrible situation,” said City Councilman Carrey Nelson of Brea, which gets 80% of its water from the MWD. “It’s time to start praying.”

“Ouch!” winced Cynthia Crothers, a city councilwoman in the fast-growing Riverside County community of Moreno Valley. “Ten percent was livable. Twenty percent was going to hurt. But I can’t imagine 31%.”

In San Diego, a region that receives 95% of its water from the MWD, the county Board of Supervisors responded by agreeing to reduce county government’s water consumption by 20% and, eventually, by up to 50%.

Talk of growth limits also came up in San Diego. At the suggestion of Supervisor Susan Golding, the board agreed to convene a meeting of water suppliers and building industry officials to forge a regional water-saving strategy that might include caps on development.

“We need to explore . . . the continuing approval of building permits for new development at a time when existing residents are being asked to reduce their own personal consumption,” Golding said.

Officials in some cities, such as Brea, remained hopeful that voluntary conservation measures would be sufficient to achieve the savings. Many others, such as in Los Angeles, are expected to quickly develop plans for mandatory water rationing, something uncommon in the Southland since the last drought, in 1977.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said through a spokesman that he is confident residents will respond to the call for conservation. “One thing is certain: The mayor believes now is the time to save water,” said spokesman Bill Chandler.

The MWD supplies 27 agencies in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Drawing primarily from the State Water Project and Colorado River, the agency provides more than half the water used by 15 million Southern Californians.

Although the cuts become effective March 1, the board delayed until April 1 implementation of the penalty phase. As an incentive to conserve, agencies will be charged triple the cost of any water used in excess of their limits. A 50% rebate will be available for agencies that use less then their allotments, but MWD officials do not expect to be writing many checks.

“In some areas, this is going to be a very tough adjustment to make,” said MWD spokesman Tim Skrove. “Some people won’t get there without sacrificing part or all of their lawns.”

The district may consider relaxing the limits for some areas hit with unusual circumstances, MWD General Manager Carl Boronkay said. Some allowances may be made for areas that already have successful conservation or water reclamation programs in place, he said.

Regions confronting an emergency shortage because of an unanticipated reduction in other water sources--such as an overtaxed ground-water basin--might also receive special consideration, he said.

The 31% cut is the third reduction by the MWD in three months. In December, the board ordered agencies to reduce consumption 10%. A month later, it increased the reduction to 17%, effective Feb. 1.

Only one board member, director Michael Nolan from Burbank, opposed the cutback. Nolan said he believed that the district should eliminate deliveries to agriculture before making residents suffer through conservation.

“It’s not fair,” Nolan said in an interview. “This is unfair punishment to the people of Southern California.”

Although the nearly one-third reduction is certain to pinch scores of communities, Boronkay warned that the pain could easily increase. If abnormally low rainfall continues, cuts of 38% or 45% may be necessary, and MWD officials are drafting plans for such reductions, he said.

In the meantime, MWD resources director Don Adams said officials are “brainstorming regularly,” searching for ways to develop additional water sources to help see the Southland through this crisis.

One possibility, Adams said, focuses on the numerous ground-water basins that underlie portions of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Normally, between 1 million and 1.4 million acre-feet of water are pulled from Southern California basins each year, Adams said.

A drawback to that plan is that many basins are depleted by five years of drought. A second problem is that contamination has degraded portions of the basins, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley and the San Bernardino area.

Times staff writer Shawn Hubler reported from Riverside, Marla Cone from Orange County, Joanna M. Miller from Ventura, and Amy Wallace and Mark Platte from San Diego.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MWD DROUGHT PLAN

The Metropolitan Water District board of directors took a series of steps on Tuesday to cope with the state’s five-year drought. The board:

* Voted to require its 27 member agencies to reduce consumption by 31% overall. That represents a 50% cut in deliveries to agriculture and a 20% cut in water for residential usage. Further reductions will almost certainly be necessary if dry conditions persist.

* Approved the allocation of $30 million from the agency’s reserves to buy water that may become available from other sources around the state. Rice farmers in the Sacramento area, for instance, may be willing to take their land out of production this year and sell water to thirsty cities.

* Allocated $3.5 million for an advertising campaign to increase public awareness of the drought. Also approved $5 million to help member agencies with programs urging residents to fit homes with water-saving shower heads and other devices.