L.A. Prepares to Deal With an Arid Future : Drought: Fearful of another dry year, officials are formulating plans that would alter lives of Angelenos. Development may also be slowed.

After five years of gambling that the problem would go away, Los Angeles officials have abruptly decided to confront the worst drought in the city’s history and are mobilizing to force dramatic citywide cuts in water use.

Nature could still intervene with a sudden downpour, but officials see an arid year ahead and predict that a range of measures--some quite novel--will dramatically alter life in Los Angeles.

Skittish City Council members, who questioned 10% mandatory reductions only three weeks ago, have overwhelmingly approved 15% cuts and some say that cuts of 20%, or more, are almost inevitable by the end of the year.

The Department of Water and Power is preparing a proposal to add three tough new phases to the city’s drought plan, including a parching final stage that would force customers to cut usage by 50%.

Barely mentioned until this month, proposals to rein in development by halting or rationing new water hookups are gaining support.

One innovative plan being formulated by Mayor Tom Bradley’s office and DWP staff would allow builders to earn new hookups by saving water elsewhere in the city, sources said. A developer might, for instance, install low-flow toilets in a city housing project to earn water credits for his own new project. A similar plan was proposed this week by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

“If we are in a situation where we don’t have enough water to take care of our existing needs, we’re all in real trouble,” she said.

After rejecting mandatory water rationing less than a year ago, the City Council on Tuesday imposed the second and third phases of the city’s five-phase drought plan, ordering 10% water cutbacks from 1986 levels, beginning March 1, and another 5% on May 1.

“Unless there’s a drastically wet year,” said Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, “I see that it’s very possible--and probable--that we would go to 20% by the end of the year.” By year’s end, she added, the city may have to ban all outside watering of lawns and plants.

The fourth and fifth phases--20% and 25% cuts--have not been imposed, but DWP officials have directed the city attorney’s office to prepare legislation authorizing 30%, 40% and 50% mandatory cutbacks.

The new phases are precautionary measures, said Michael Gage, president of the DWP Board of Commissioners, and are designed to anticipate several contingencies.

“What if there is no rainfall in February, or what if there is relatively little rain in March? What if we went another year without rain?” Gage said. “We recognize that things might get worse and we need to be prepared.”

Gage said he would not be surprised to see 30% mandatory cutbacks by the end of 1991, but added that 50% cuts are unlikely this year. In the higher cutback ranges, Gage said, “You still have some choices (about water use), but it means your lawn’s going to be brown and you’re going to have to be very, very careful about what you do.”

While the drastic cutbacks may make life difficult for existing residents and businesses, proposed restrictions on new water hookups would have an unprecedented effect on development.

Council members Zev Yaroslavsky and Galanter have offered proposals in recent weeks that would dramatically cut the number of new hookups using differing formulas and guidelines.

On Wednesday, Yaroslavsky suggested that hookups be slashed by twice the amount of any water cutbacks imposed. For instance, if 15% water cutbacks are required, new hookups would be cut by 30%. Under a 50% water-rationing scenario, no new hookups would be allowed.

Bradley has said he opposes such proposals because they hurt the city’s business climate in a time of recession. As an alternative, his staff and the DWP are working up a proposal that will give builders more flexibility, sources said.

Bill Chandler, Bradley’s spokesman, confirmed that the proposal is in the works, but said details are unavailable.

A source involved in discussions about the proposal said it is aimed at permitting developers to, in a sense, “find their own water” by finding ways to cut back water use.

Galanter said her plan would allow developers to use reclaimed water, or to install water-saving devices in existing structures they own.

Whether any proposal has enough council support to win approval is unclear. However, the measures have won a key backer in Flores, who last year was instrumental in killing mandatory rationing.

“I believe the council will go for some kind of hookup restriction,” Flores said. “I don’t think it will be a total ban. But I also think we have to be very careful. . . . It’s very difficult to undo anything we do now.”