THE DROUGHT : State Considering Severe Water Cutbacks : The restrictions on surface supplies could mean mandatory rationing of 300 gallons a day per household.

In a move that could signal the most severe and widespread water restrictions ever imposed in California, the state is considering cutbacks to all surface water users in Ventura County and statewide to combat the fifth year of drought.

The state Water Resources Control Board will consider 18 restrictions during hearings in Sacramento beginning Tuesday in an effort to stretch water supplies in state and private reservoirs that have fallen to record low levels.

If implemented, the restrictions could mean mandatory water rationing of 300 gallons a day per household for seven Ventura County cities and nearby unincorporated areas. The city of Ventura already limits most households to 294 gallons per day, and other cities around the county are considering similar programs.

“You have to prepare for the worse-case scenario,” said James Hubert, general manager at Calleguas Municipal Water District, which serves five cities with state water delivered through the Metropolitan Water District. “Who knows how long this drought will go on?”

Communities dependent in full or in part on state water, which comes from Northern California rivers, include about 450,000 people living in and around Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Water supplies for residents in or near Santa Paula, Fillmore and Port Hueneme come from underground basins and would not be significantly affected by the restrictions, which apply only to surface water, officials said.

But the rationing could extend to about 50,000 residents in western Ventura and the Ojai Valley whose taps are supplied by surface water from mountain runoff captured at Lake Casitas north of Ventura.

Those residents could feel a further sting in future years if the state board adopts a measure requiring operators of large reservoirs to share their stored water with other drier communities.

About 300 growers who use the surface water from Lake Casitas could be even harder hit if the state board adopts another measure that severely restricts water use for crops. The board is considering a measure that sets priorities for agricultural use, with little or no water allocated for annual crops such as strawberries and lettuce, and only enough water allowed for trees to keep them alive.

About 85% of farmers elsewhere in the county irrigate their crops with water pumped from the ground, which would not be affected by the surface water use restrictions.

However, the United Water Conservation District, which serves about 750 farmers on the Oxnard Plain, uses some state water to recharge underground basins. And the cutback in state water could cause some pumpers to increase their ground-water usage, further taxing the already overdrafted underground basins, said Donald Dorman, assistant general manager.

But Dorman said United’s reservoir at Lake Piru is not large enough to be subject to any requirements for water sharing.

Nevertheless, Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said the measures could have devastating effects on area agriculture.

“It would make the freeze look like peanuts if they do the things they are proposing,” he said, referring to the December freeze that caused $128 million in crop damage to the county. “We have an $806-million industry in this county that will not survive without a water supply.”

Laird joined area officials in predicting protracted legal battles over water rights if the state board decides to put the measures into effect.

“It would be the full-employment act for California attorneys in 1991,” he said.

David Kennedy, director of the state Department of Water Resources, agreed that the measures would bring “legal ramifications.”

But he said the drought that began in 1986 is even worse than that of 1977 and 1978. “We’ve got 7 million more people in California than we had then, and at this point in the year, we have less water in storage in our reservoirs than we had in those years.”

State board spokeswoman Sandra Salazar said the time has come to take action. It is up to the state board, which regulates both surface and ground-water use in California, to ensure an adequate water supply if the five-year drought stretches into 20 years as it did in the 1800s.

“These are drastic measures for a drastic drought,” she said. After the public hearings, Salazar said, the board will probably decide in mid-February on whether to implement the measures. But if they decide to go forward, the restrictions would become immediately effective.

Among the most drastic measures being considered is one that would prohibit any further diversions from rivers or reservoirs after April 1, which would halt the flow of water into Southern California from the State Water Project. The State Water Project brings water from Northern California rivers south to the Metropolitan Water District.

The MWD operates four reservoirs in Southern California that are now about 80% full. But the district wants to hold that water in reserve in case of emergency, rather than use it for daily supply. The MWD counts on state water for about 60% of its deliveries to member agencies, with 40% coming from the Colorado River, said district spokesman Bob Gomperz.

The MWD is attempting to increase its water deliveries from the Colorado River. The district has already announced 15% cutbacks for municipal water users served by its member agencies and 30% reductions for agriculture and ground-water recharge customers.

“And I wouldn’t be surprised if we ratchet up the mandatory savings at the next board meeting,” Gomperz said. The MWD meets Feb. 11 and 12.

Other measures to be considered by the state water board include those that would relax state requirements on the amount of water reservoir operators are required to release into stream beds to support fish and aquatic life.

Both United Water and the Casitas Municipal Water District, which provides water from Lake Casitas to the western county and the Ojai Valley, fall under those requirements but are only required to release water during wet years, officials said.