Two Water Conservation Programs Ordered for L.A.

Even as a light rain fell on the city, mandatory water conservation was tentatively imposed Tuesday on all Los Angeles residents and businesses for the first time since 1978 because of sewer troubles and the lack of winter snowpack in the High Sierra.

The new water-conserving measures--ordered separately Tuesday by the City Council and the Board of Water and Power Commissioners--both require a final legislative action. But that approval, beginning with a declaration by Mayor Tom Bradley today that a water emergency exists, is expected to be routine and could be completed next week.

The most sweeping action Tuesday, voted 12-2 by the City Council, endorsed a conservation program proposed last fall by Bradley in response to reports by sanitation officials that the sewage treatment system in Los Angeles was dangerously near capacity because of growth in the city.

If the Bradley program receives its final approval next week, as expected, all homes and businesses will be required to install water-saving devices on showers and toilets by October 13.

Special low-flow shower heads and a balloon-like device for toilet tanks that reduces the water consumed by each flush would be distributed free of charge to residents by the Department of Water and Power. Giving the devices away free of initial charge will cost the DWP more than $4 million, Deputy General Manager Duane L. Georgeson said, and force the agency to seek a higher rate increase from the City Council this year.

Owners of commercial buildings would be forced to pay for the retrofitting themselves. Owners who do not install the devices would face penalty surcharges on their water bills under the Bradley program.

Although the requirement to install the water-conserving devices is mandatory, enforcement of the law would be different for businesses and residents. The owners of commercial buildings, including apartment houses, would be required to pay a plumber or someone else licensed by the city Department of Building and Safety to inspect their property and certify that the equipment was in place.

Requirement for Homes

For single-family homes, the owner would only have to prove that the devices were installed when the house is sold or when the owner applied to the city for a building permit to renovate or remodel the property.

Bradley’s conservation program, which also imposes new rules on operators of large outdoor turf areas such as golf courses, was first proposed in December after a year of troubles with the city sewer system. More than a dozen spills of raw and partially treated sewage roused some residents, especially those along the coast of Santa Monica Bay, to complain about the decaying state of the sewers.

At the same time, Bradley was told by city engineers that the rapid population growth in the past decade has far outstripped improvements to the city’s sewage treatment plants. Engineers warned the mayor that the sewer system, which also handles the sewage from more than 20 small cities and sanitation agencies that surround Los Angeles, would reach capacity and break down by 1992 if the growth in water use did not slow down.

Deputy mayor Mike Gage said Tuesday that the water-conserving measures would only be needed until mid-1991 when the Tillman sewage trteatment plant in Van Nuys is completed. However, city officials have said the rules may stay in effect after that date to remind residents that Los Angeles depends on a water source 250 miles away.

Commissioners Act

Separately from the City Council, the Water and Power commission Tuesday invoked the mandatory water conservation law first used during the statewide drought in 1977. The law requires the mayor to declare that a water emergency exists, and Bradley’s staff said Tuesday he would make that declaration today before leaving on a trip to Washington and New York.

Once Bradley acts and the City Council concurs, property owners throughout Los Angeles would be required to fix any leaking faucets and toilets, and refrain from using water to clean off patios and driveways. The law would also forbid restaurants from serving water except on demand and ban the use of decorative fountains that do not recycle the water they use.

When the law was invoked from 1977-78, the city also banned day time watering of lawns and gardens. But the City Council suspended that aspect of the law in 1977 and the provision will not be applied now unless the council changes its mind.

The DWP’s action was taken after water officials reported that the snowmelt in the Eastern Sierra, where the city obtains most of its water through the Los Angeles Acqueduct system, was far below normal this spring. Storage of water in reservoirs was already down because of a series of light winters, and many areas of the state are forecasting a water shortage.

Left unsettled Tuesday was a proposal by Bradley to order a limit on new construction in Los Angeles as a further tactic to prevent overuse of the sewers. The City Council debated the construction limit for more than six hours Tuesday but adjourned after 6 p.m. without taking a final vote.

Developers and their lobbyists argued throughout the day for various exceptions to the building limit, and the representatives of several cities that use the Los Angeles sewers also appeared to say they had not been adequately consulted about the limits. Under Bradley’s program, those independent cities would also have to limit growth temporarily.