City may be charged for water use above certain levels

Water rationing is likely coming in 2009, brought by regional water suppliers, and Huntington Beach residents will be asked to cut back, officials told City Council members at a study session this week. Members met not to vote, but to hear what city staff were planning in response.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water to cities across the Southland, is expecting 20-year lows in water supply for the next year, said city Utilities Manager Howard Johnson. As a result, the district might place heavy surcharges on water the city uses above a certain amount, he said. As a result, the city would have to get residents to conserve.

“You would have to have an incredible year for us to not have to go into some type of rationing,” he said.

That doesn’t mean flows get cut off outright, he said. And the first phase of response to major drought would be a series of mostly-voluntary measures.

But if the situation gets bad enough, residents might see surcharges on water used for lawns and plants, higher bills for those who don’t cut back on usage, and near-bans on washing cars with the hose, Johnson said.

“We need to do this and plan it carefully, because you don’t want to put an undue burden on one type of individual,” Johnson said to council members.

With a court decision cutting off water supplies from the Sacramento Delta and state’s first drought declared since 1991, the city is trying to plan ahead, Johnson said. Water production over the last year was gravely low, he added.

“We had the lowest production in the last 20 years,” he said.

The city has already been asking for a 10% voluntary water reduction from all its citizens, and it sent letters to the top 200 users – which includes itself – asking them to cut back on irrigation and other non-critical water use, Johnson said.

Some council members said they worried that even in a very dry year, some larger families might just need more to drink and wash than others.

“What do we do about families with small children,” Councilwoman Cathy Green asked. “Does their usage go up?”

Johnson replied that there would be a way to ask for a variance from the city, permission to use more water due to special circumstances.

“If, say, we have six people in my home, you should be able to take that into consideration,” he said.

Negotiations and planning will continue, both among city staff and with the Metropolitan Water District and the Municipal Water District of Orange County, he said.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes.com.