Manhattan Beach Plans to Order Water Cuts April 1

The Manhattan Beach City Council will be asked to order mandatory water conservation effective April 1, City Manager Bill Smith said last week. The city’s initial target will be to cut water use by 10%.

Smith, who will ask the council to order the reductions at one of its March meetings, announced his decision shortly after the council approved an ordinance establishing a mandatory conservation plan. Separate council action is required to put it into effect.

Smith said his call for mandatory reductions stems from a notice from the Metropolitan Water District: As of Feb. 1, the city Utilities Division, which supplies water throughout Manhattan Beach, will face extra charges for using more than 90% of the amount of water it used during the corresponding billing period in the 12 months from June, 1989, to May, 1990. The MWD supplies 85% of the city’s water.

“We have no choice,” Smith said. “Everybody will have to cut back. This is a regional, not a city, problem.”

Under a voluntary program launched last summer, water use has been cut by an average of 7%, Smith said. An additional 3% savings is necessary to meet the 10% goal and avoid surcharges from the MWD.

Smith said mandatory conservation is necessary “to take care of those who are not participating in the voluntary program.” He said the city itself, a major water user, has cut back its use by 20%.

Measures to conserve water would include a ban on hosing paved areas and privately washing vehicles and a reduction in the hours when lawns could be watered. Water customers could not use more than 90% of the amount used during corresponding 1989 billing periods without incurring penalties.

Customers will receive a warning for the first violation of the ordinance. The second violation carries a $25 surcharge on water bills. For subsequent violations, flow restriction devices will be installed and $50 surcharges imposed.

Duane Beaver, head of the Utilities Division, said the extra charge by the MWD for water “could be fairly substantial.” Though MWD surcharges will begin after Feb. 1, the city will absorb the extra cost until April.

The city pays $235 per acre-foot for MWD water, and the penalty would add an additional $394 to the bill. Between June, 1989, and May, 1990, the city used 6,661 acre-feet of MWD water. An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, or about the amount used by two average families in one year, according to the MWD.

In addition to the penalties, there are incentives for savings. The city would get a $99 rebate per acre-foot for using even less water than the 90% allotment, Beaver said.

Smith said the city should be able to absorb the 10% cut fairly easily. But he added that without a major weather change, he is expecting a 30% MWD cutback by late spring. “That would be difficult,” he said.