DWP to Seek Compulsory Water Use Cut : Drought: Officials say mandatory rationing is needed because customers have failed to curb usage by 10% for three consecutive months.

Because Los Angeles water users again failed to meet conservation goals, the city Department of Water and Power announced Thursday that it will seek mandatory rationing on Feb. 1.

If Phase II of the city’s water conservation plan is adopted by the City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley, DWP customers will be required beginning March 1 to reduce water consumption by 10% or face stiff fines. It would be the first time since 1978 that Angelenos have been forced to conserve water.

Mandatory rationing is needed, DWP officials said, because--for the third straight month--water consumption in the city failed to decrease 10%.

In fact, officials said, December consumption was 9% higher than expected.

Phase I of the conservation program, which allowed residential, commercial and industrial water customers to voluntarily cut usage by 10% from 1986 levels, had worked smoothly for six months before it began to fail in October, the DWP said.

The utility had hoped voluntary conservation, to which about half its customers have adhered--even during the three-month slump--would head off the need to institute mandatory cutbacks.

But the steady overall decline in conservation levels since October changed the minds of DWP officials, who said they are particularly concerned about inadequate snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, where the city gets up to 80% of its water.

The Sierra snowpack is “at the lowest level for this time of year since 1977,” said James F. Wickser, a DWP assistant manager.

The only thing that would change the DWP’s mind about mandatory rationing, Wickser said, would be a drastically improved snowpack.

The chances of that happening are scant, said DWP spokeswoman Debra Sass.

Thursday’s storm, which mainly affected Southern California, was no help, officials said.

City Council members could not be reached for comment on what they will do about the DWP recommendation.

Last July, the council soundly rejected Bradley’s call for a mandatory plan and approved only the voluntary program. That plan, however, called for mandatory rationing if voluntary measures did not work.

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor wants to see water usage figures for January before he makes up his mind on mandatory rationing.

“But he has said in the past he will do everything that needs to be done to conserve water,” Chandler said.

Under the mandatory rationing plan, all DWP customers will be required to cut their water usage by 10% from 1986 levels.

For the first violation, customers would be charged $3 per billing unit of excess use, plus 15% of their total water bill. A billing unit is 748 gallons.

A second violation would cost the customer $3 for each excess billing unit plus 25% of the bill.

A third violation would cost $4 per billing unit of excess use and 75% of the total bill.

Those who did not live in the city in 1986, or who have moved from one place to another in Los Angeles since then, would be assigned an allotment based on the size of their dwelling, the number of occupants and the amount of landscaping, the DWP said.