Council Rejects Mandatory Cuts in Use of Water : Drought: The council follows Mayor O’Connor’s lead and adopts a voluntary conservation program instead of obligatory rationing.

The San Diego City Council Monday soundly rejected a mandatory water conservation measure, opting for a voluntary system designed to cut water use by at least 10%.

In an emotional 8-1 vote, the council created a voluntary conservation program calling on residential, business and industrial water users in San Diego to cut their use by at least 10% during the next two months.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who introduced the voluntary program and is its chief proponent, pledged to seek mandatory conservation measures in 60 days if the voluntary effort fails to generate the 10% cut.

“But I think we’re going to be at 10%, ready, set, go, in 60 days,” O’Connor said after Monday’s meeting.

Council’s endorsement of a voluntary program ran counter to a request from the San Diego County Water Authority, which earlier this year petitioned its members to set mandatory limits on residents watering lawns, washing cars and filling swimming pools. The authority supplies more than 90% of the water consumed in San Diego County.

San Diego draws more than 40% of the water supplied by the authority, and officials said the council’s vote will create confusion in nearby communities that already have adopted mandatory conservation programs, said Lester Snow, general manager of the water authority, in an interview.

Snow suggested enforcement officers in other communities might encounter disgruntled citizens who don’t understand why water crisis rules aren’t countywide. And, the authority will have to recast portions of an upcoming media campaign that describes water conservation as mandatory throughout the county, Snow said.

However, Snow pledged that the water authority will “work with the mayor to achieve the 10% cut in use.”

The authority had asked for mandatory water limits because the state is in the midst of a four-year drought and “we simply cannot afford to lose” conservation efforts this summer because the region faces the distinct possibility of an unprecedented fifth year of drought, Dale Mason, chairman of the water authority, said.

“I know that the water professionals disagree,” O’Connor said. “But mandatory rules are not working” elsewhere in the state, O’Connor maintained.

About 130 cities in Southern California have adopted some form of mandatory or voluntary conservation ordinance, according to Tim Skrove, a spokesman for the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, which supplies most of the water used in Southern California.

The 8-1 council vote for voluntary conservation came just minutes after council members voted 6-3 against mandatory controls.

Councilman Bob Filner, who voted for mandatory conservation and cast the sole vote against O’Connor’s voluntary program, predicted that out-of-towners will score San Diego for its “lack of leadership.”

Filner also predicted that the vote will generate newspaper headlines around the state that blast San Diego for failing to act on the drought.

But O’Connor won an overwhelming majority on the council by arguing that voluntary reductions are “the way to go for San Diego. . . . We’re not Los Angeles, we aren’t San Francisco. I would like to use positive reinforcement as opposed to the big club.”

“It’s a matter of style,” O’Connor said. “San Diego still has a community service (heritage and) San Diego will respond.”

O’Connor won surprise support from Councilman Ron Roberts, who earlier this month pushed for a strong mandatory conservation program.

Just before voting for O’Connor’s voluntary program, Roberts voted against adopting a mandatory conservation program that won support from Filner and council members Abbe Wolfsheimer and Wes Pratt.

“We needed a strong council vote on water conservation, which is what we have now,” Roberts said after the council meeting. “We agreed to give the mayor her shot at the 60 days.”

Pratt, a strong proponent of mandatory conservation, argued that “there’s confusion in the minds of the citizens” on whether they need to conserve water. “We’re facing a crisis, and, philosophically, I can understand the mayor’s (push for) voluntary,” Pratt said. “But we really need to send a significant message . . . that we’ve got a water crisis here.”

Wolfsheimer said the council’s push for voluntary controls was confusing because a council majority in April strongly indicated that it favored mandatory controls.

Beginning next week, San Diego’s water utility department will forward water use data to the council and to a new committee that O’Connor is forming to win support for the voluntary program.

O’Connor’s committee, which will meet for the first time Thursday, will attempt to develop “innovative techniques” for winning public support for the 10% water use reduction. It includes representatives from church, civic, business and consumer groups.

San Diego’s voluntary water use ordinance is in keeping with the Metropolitan Water District’s request for a 10% water use reduction, said MWD official Tim Quinn. “We’re interested in getting a 10% reduction,” said Quinn, who added that voluntary conservation usually makes it harder to reach reduction goals.