Shortage of Water Taps New Policies

She takes her sermon from meeting to meeting, preaching against the sin of water misuse, pleading for San Clemente to repent and conserve.

“Water has finite limits,” says former San Clemente Mayor Karoline Koester. “We don’t have unlimited water.”

That point was driven home to San Clemente in July and August, as residents’ thirst for water strongly outpaced supply, and the city’s reservoir dwindled to unprecedented low levels.

Now, facing the possibility of another water-short summer next year, the San Clemente City Council and other government bodies and agencies are revising their water policies--heeding the call of Koester and other advocates of slower growth in San Clemente. Those advocates say that this summer’s water shortage was a harbinger of a more serious drought unless San Clemente better manages its resources.

Water Drama Unfolds

“We want to make sure the existing residents and businesses won’t suffer--that there’ll be no shortages for them in the future,” said Mayor Brian J. Rice.

Since mid-July, when San Clemente’s reservoir began drying up, the city’s water drama has unfolded like this:

* The San Clemente City Council on Aug. 30 proposed an emergency water-rationing ordinance. The council, however, later deferred action on the measure. It is now scheduled for discussion Oct. 18.

* The Tri-Cities Municipal Water District, an independent public agency that serves as a water wholesaler, criticized the City Council for not taking immediate action on the water-rationing ordinance. “Although we are not currently facing a crisis situation, the possibility of a water shortage or supply-line disruption is ever present,” Tri-Cities Board President Dennis A. Erdman wrote to the City Council.

* San Clemente Utilities Director Greg Morehead said that Tri-Cities really isn’t sure where its diminishing water went during the shortage last summer. Morehead said he has figures showing that the Tri-Cities reservoir continued to shrink even as San Clemente businesses and developers voluntarily cut back water use in massive amounts.

* San Clemente Chamber of Commerce officials expressed concern that any proposed water rationing would hurt business and development.

* Residents appeared before both the City Council and the Tri-Cities board of directors to express concern about future water shortages.

* The City Council announced at its Sept. 20 meeting that developers henceforth must certify the availability of adequate water before the city will issue final building permits. The council’s announcement came as it approved plans for a major residential development by Centex Homes in northern San Clemente.

* Tri-Cities said it would discuss the possibility of a water allocation system at its meeting this Wednesday. Such a plan, if adopted, would earmark a percentage of available water to various communities, including San Clemente.

Former Mayor Koester advocates both a city water-rationing plan, in case of emergencies, and a water district allocation program. She says both are needed to make sure that the San Clemente area is not allowed to grow beyond its resources--including water.

“I’m not the only one in San Clemente concerned about this,” Koester said in a recent interview. “There are many people worried about growth in the community.” Koester noted that many residents have voiced, or written letters to various city officials, about the water scare last summer. Nonetheless, Koester has been the loudest drum-beater in the community to get coordinated action for water conservation. She attends meetings of any and all agencies where water is, or may become, an item on the agenda.

Tri-Cities Municipal Water District has only one intake pipe to its reservoir. Ray Woodside, general manager for the water district, said plenty of water was available to the district. But he said users were consuming the water this past summer faster than the supply could be replenished. The district’s reservoir, situated in north San Clemente, holds about 48 million gallons, and at one point in August it shrank to 17 million gallons.

Tri-Cities provides water for all of San Clemente, part of Dana Point (the Capistrano Beach area), the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and San Onofre State Park.

San Clemente is by far the biggest consumer, traditionally accounting for about 66% of the water district’s consumption, according to Woodside.

None of the water users, including San Clemente, have contracts guaranteeing them a set amount of Tri-Cities’ overall supply. In the past, users have simply taken what they have needed. The supply was always adequate.

Koester says those days are now gone. She contends that even when Tri-Cities gets another intake pipe, which is scheduled in 1991, water supplies cannot be considered infinite. Thus, she argues, San Clemente must know how much of Tri-Cities’ water it will always be guaranteed--what its allocation will be.

Koester is no longer on the City Council, but several on the current council have said they agree with her concern about water availability.

At the Sept. 20 council meeting, Councilman Scott Diehl said he strongly agreed with the city’s new policy of linking building permits to water availability. “This puts developers on notice that water supply in this area is delicate,” Diehl said.

Mayor Rice, in an interview this week, said the water-shortage scare last summer must not be forgotten by the city. “We need some kinds of regulation--decent guidelines and decent plans for equitable allocations,” Rice said. But he added that he does not want San Clemente and its population of about 40,000 to lower its standard of living to allow for more water for future residents.

“I think it’s fair for our residents to ask, ‘Why do I have to conserve my water so you can build more and more?’ ” Rice said. “My concern is to not allow growth to hurt residents and businesses who are already here. They shouldn’t have to do with less water because of new growth.