Water Rationing | 11-Digit Dialing | Park Update | CERT

Chatsworth May Face More Water Rationing, Rate Hike
Penalty Could Double Your DWP Bill

Chatsworth faces the double whammy of a severe drought and a blistering summertime climate which may force the most stringent water rationing in decades. A cap on water use may begin within a month if the Department of Water and Power (DWP) and City Council act.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.

And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for moving Los Angeles from Phase I to Phase III of the City's Water Conservation Ordinance, which will restrict outdoor irrigation to two days a week -- on Mondays and Thursdays only.

The strategy shifts the city's focus from promoting efficient indoor plumbing to the outdoors, where residents use 30 to 40 percent of their water.

Rebates Proposed

Councilman Greig Smith has introduced a City Council motion that would offer homeowners and businesses rebates for installing devices that automatically adjust sprinkler watering levels based on weather conditions to conserve water during the drought.

"[Irrigation ...] water is wasted if sprinklers are running while it rains. Our motion would offer full rebates from the Department of Water and Power to residents or businesses that install sprinkler controllers that adjust watering levels based on satellite information or moisture levels in the ground," said Mitch Englander, Smith's chief of staff.

The motion would also require the devices at all city-owned properties and asks CalTrans to report on use of DWP water on medians and landscaped freeway embankments within the city.

The DWP has signaled it could impose caps on water use as part of efforts to tackle California's three-year drought. Under the plan, which has been adopted in principle by the department's board, homes and businesses would pay a penalty rate of almost double normal prices for any water they use over their monthly allowance.

"The message is simple: if you save water, you will save money," Villaraigosa said.

Restrictions and Rates

The restrictions -- the first of six levels have been in place for more than a year -- and rate changes could be enacted by spring if approved by the City Council and DWP.

The five-member DWP board plans to formally vote on details of the measure this month. Then the City Council is expected to act.

The plan is modeled on the previous water-rationing measures, which were introduced in March 1991 in response to the last major drought. A DWP spokesman told Reuters that the measure successfully cut citywide water use by about 25 per cent.

"The level of severity of this drought is something we haven't seen since the early 1970s. We have to move quickly to address this problem," Villaraigosa said.

Cut in Supply

Quick action is necessary, he said, because the Metropolitan Water District -- a major wholesale water supplier to the city and the rest of Southern California -- has warned that it may be forced to cut water deliveries by 15 percent to 25 percent.

"Our water supplies have been cut and our snow pack in the Eastern Sierra is precariously low," said David Nahai, chief executive and general manager of the DWP. "We are now in a situation where all of Los Angeles must be in a water conservation mode 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year round, rain or shine.

Complicating matters are federal court restrictions on water that can be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in northern California, which furnishes much of the state's irrigation and drinking supplies, in order to protect endangered fish species.

Los Angeles has recently experienced heavy rain, but experts said that they have not proved sufficient to bring an end to the drought, warning that both the snow pack in the Sierra Nevada and the reservoirs it feeds are still badly depleted.

The water content of the Sierra Nevada snow pack -- the backbone of the state's water supply -- is about 80 percent of normal for this time of year, according to measurements of water content at several backcountry spots.

That's a turnaround from a month ago, when the water content measured just 61 percent of normal after the eighth-driest January on record had the state teetering on a the edge of its worst-ever water crisis.

"While the storms that we had in February have certainly improved our circumstances over the first of last month, we still have a long way to go," Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Reservoir storage is still way below average, and the likelihood of large-enough storms to have significant recovery drops way off as we move into March."

Numerous rebates are available for water saving devices such as weather based irrigation controls, rotating sprinkler nozzles and synthetic turf. Information is available at bewaterwise.com.

DWP water restrictions

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is urging Phase III water use restrictions. Stakeholders are already in Phase I.

PHASE I:
* Prohibits hosing sidewalks, driveways and parking areas unless permitted by law.

* Prohibits using water to clean, fill or maintain levels in decorative fountains or ponds unless the water is part of a recirculating system.

* Restaurants cannot serve drinking water to people unless expressly requested.

* Customers are required to repair leaking pipes and water fixtures in a timely manner.

* Customers can wash cars only with hoses that have a self-closing water shut-off device.

* Prohibits watering lawns and landscape when raining.

* Prohibits watering lawns or landscape between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

* Customers can be fined if sprinklers allow excess water to flow onto sidewalks, driveways, streets or gutter.

* Hotels and motels must give guests the choice not to have towels and linens laundered daily.

PHASE II adds:
* Landscape irrigation allowed Monday, Thursday and Saturday only.

* Using a hand-held hose to water lawns and landscape allowed any day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

PHASE III adds:
* Landscape irrigation allowed Monday and Thursday only.

PHASE IV adds:
* Landscape irrigation allowed Monday only.

* Prohibits car washing at home.

* Prohibits filling swimming pools and spas.

PHASE V adds:
* No landscape irrigation.

PHASE VI adds:
* The DWP board is authorized to implement additional prohibited uses of water based on the supply situation.

Sources: Reuters, DWP, the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the Mayor's office and Councilman Smith's staff.