Santa Monica Expands Limits on Water Usage : Drought: Council approves additional curbs on lawn watering and urges a voluntary 10% reduction. City officials also offer incentives to cut water use.

The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday night agreed to impose additional emergency water conservation measures--including limiting the watering of lawns to twice a week and encouraging a voluntary 10% reduction in water usage from last year’s level--with the hope of avoiding water rationing.

City officials hope to help residents achieve the 10% cut in water usage by providing free low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators for kitchens and bathrooms, free inspections of lawns to determine watering needs, free adjustments to automatic irrigation systems, and free inspections for leaks for customers whose water consumption exceeds last year’s use by 20%.

The emergency conservation measures, which become effective next week, will be temporary and will continue until the City Council determines that emergency drought conditions have subsided.

Last year, the City Council imposed many water conservation measures. Among those are measures that prohibit watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., hosing down patios or driveways more than once a week, and running water from hoses while washing cars. Also made permanent were requirements to immediately repair all leaks from exterior and interior pipes and for all restaurants to serve water only upon request.

The additional conservation measures approved Tuesday will limit the watering of lawns to twice a week and impose a complete ban on the hosing down of driveways and patios. Swimming pools will not be allowed to be filled or emptied, unless it is the first filling of a newly constructed pool or if required repair work on a leak was performed.

The city will hire two inspectors to enforce the conservation laws, inspect homes for retrofitting of low-flow toilets and shower heads, and do public outreach for the conservation programs.

Repeat violators of the measures face a surcharge on their water bills of $20 or 20% of their bimonthly water bill, whichever is higher, or a fine of up to $100.

Residents also will receive written notification on their water bills of their monthly consumption compared to the same period last year.

City Conservation Coordinator Atossa Soltani said the restrictions are designed to minimize the effect of the drought and the possible need for rationing next year.

Earlier this month, Santa Monica became the first California city to impose fines on residential property owners who do not install low-flow plumbing fixtures in existing residences.

Low-flow toilets use a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush and low-flow shower heads limit flow to three gallons per minute.

After July 1, owners of single-family homes who have not complied will have $1 a month added to their water bills, and owners of multifamily buildings will be charged 65 cents each month per unit. Commercial properties are not affected.

All residents will be charged the fine through their water bill until the new fixtures are inspected and verified by city officials. Money collected from the fine--the city calls it a “conservation incentive fee”--will be used to finance the city’s Baysaver program, which includes $100 rebates per bathroom for property owners who install the low-flow plumbing fixtures.