FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Water Conservation Law to Be Discussed

City residents will have the chance to air their views on a proposed water conservation ordinance during a public hearing set for Tuesday.

Under the proposed ordinance, which was drafted in response to the increasingly dire statewide drought, the city would create a three-stage conservation system aimed at providing a flexible plan for curtailing water use.

In the first stage, dubbed a Water Watch, residents would be asked to cut consumption voluntarily by 10% and not face mandatory restrictions.

The other stages would be implemented if drought conditions continue to worsen and would be called Water Alert and Water Emergency. Once those stages were declared, residents would face mandatory conservation measures.

During a Water Alert, residents would be assigned specific days and times for watering lawns and gardens. People with odd-numbered addresses might be allowed to water on odd-numbered days, while those with even-numbered addresses would be able to water on even-numbered days.

Washing an automobile with a hand-held hose would be banned, and filling pools or ponds would be restricted to after 9:30 p.m. and before 5:30 a.m. on scheduled watering days.

A Water Emergency would activate even stricter measures prohibiting the hosing down of paved areas, banning the operation of ornamental fountains and cutting off water used for air conditioning. Commercial and industrial water users would be forced to cut back their consumption by 25%, and water for construction or park purposes would be limited to recycled water.