Ventura : Law Limiting Water Use Brings Drought Home

The effect of the statewide water shortage hit home last week. The Ventura City Council adopted an ordinance that limits residents’ water use, and the county’s eastern cities braced for possible cutbacks of state-supplied water.

Cutbacks in the supply of state water to the major cities of eastern Ventura County--including Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley--may be considered as early as next month because of the drought, a regional water official said.

In the meantime, the Metropolitan Water District asked member agencies-including the county’s eastern cities-to prepare ordinances that would require reductions in residential and commercial water use because of the worsening drought.

Officials of Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Oxnard said they will comply with the request.

In the city of Ventura, which depends largely on local water sources such as Lake Casitas, the City Council adopted an ordinance Monday that limits water use by residents, cuts back non-residential users by 15% to 20% and creates a moratorium on hookups for new construction.

The law, passed in the third year of a drought, is designed to reduce the city’s water use by 30%. It will take effect April 13--30 days after adoption--but users will not be penalized for excess use until June.

Beginning then, with the second billing period after the ordinance goes into effect, users may be penalized up to 10 times the normal rate for excess use.

Single-family residences will be limited to 296 gallons a day. Apartments, condominiums, townhouses and mobile homes will be limited to 196 gallons. Houses get more because of lawn watering.

Public Works Director Shelley Jones said about 45% of the city’s residents already use less water than the new limits allow.

A family may get permission to use more water if it can show it has exceeded the allocation for the past three years. Officials said that would typically be for a house with a big yard. Also, the amount will be increased by 49 gallons per day per person if more than three people live in a multifamily residence or more than four inhabit a single-family dwelling.

The ordinance provides for exceptions for medical needs, agriculture and businesses that prove that “all reasonable conservation measures are being used.”

The city will mail brochures explaining the ordinance and giving water-saving tips to Ventura’s 22,400 customers, he said.

In addition to rationing, the city is seeking additional supplies.

In eastern Ventura County, cutbacks may be required if, as expected, the state Department of Water Resources, which operates the state water project, determines that not enough rain has fallen this year to meet the demands of its customers, said Jay Malinowski, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District.

Malinowski said he could not estimate the amount of the cutback, saying only that he does not expect it to be as large as 20%.