MOORPARK : Voluntary Water Guidelines Adopted

The city of Moorpark will mount a campaign to get residents and area farmers to use less water under a voluntary water conservation program the City Council has unanimously adopted.

The council wants to cut water use by 10%.

Farmers use 45% of the 40 million gallons of water consumed annually in Ventura County Waterworks District No. 1, an area that includes the city of Moorpark and surrounding farms.

But county agricultural officials say that farmers are cutting back as much as possible and pay the highest rates in the county for their water.

But some council members said they believe that farmers are not doing enough to conserve. County water officials are considering new billing rates that would penalize the largest agricultural consumers.

Councilwoman Eloise Brown on Thursday criticized “wasteful usage” by agricultural users at a time when households are being asked to cut back on common household uses.

Moorpark’s voluntary conservation campaign aims to change the water-wasting habits of private citizens in their own homes by getting residents to be conscious of conserving water when washing clothes, showering and brushing their teeth. There are no fines attached to the voluntary measure.

The campaign to reduce water use was ordered by the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which supplies about 7,400 Moorpark households and 88 surrounding farmers.

Council members said the conservation measures are an attempt to prevent shortages in 1991. Most of the city’s water supplies are shipped to Moorpark through the state water project. A fourth of the water used in the city comes from local ground-water sources.