S.D.’s Water Conservation Far Below Goal : Drought: In four months, voluntary measures have brought less than half the 10% savings sought. County tightens its policy today.

San Diego’s voluntary water conservation program, often touted as successful by Mayor Maureen O’Connor, has been limping along since Sept. 1 at less than half the 10% savings goal requested by the San Diego County Water Authority.

During the past four months, as the authority’s 22 other member agencies continued to mandate water savings, the city’s voluntary program has never topped 5% savings. Overall since June 1, the city has saved just 7.7%.

These figures appear to bode poorly for the city in light of a new county water policy that goes into effect today, which requires all of the authority’s customers to decrease water use by 15%. In contrast to the authority’s previous 10% recommendation, which imposed no penalties for those who did not comply, this policy comes with a sharp set of teeth: Member agencies will pay triple the going rate for all water used above the allotment.

The impending cuts--as well as reports that the Metropolitan Water District may mandate further reductions--are likely to rekindle debate over what conservation measures should be adopted by the city, the County Water Authority’s biggest customer.

San Diego City Councilman Bob Filner, a longtime supporter of mandatory conservation, said the city’s current approach is tantamount to “sticking its head in the sand. We should get out at the forefront saying, ‘We are the biggest consumer agency in the county, and let’s take the lead.’ ”

But Paul Downey, a spokesman for O’Connor, said she continues to oppose mandatory conservation measures and is “very happy” with the results of the voluntary effort during the summer.

“From the mayor’s perspective, she doesn’t want to create an atmosphere in communities where neighbors feel pressured into turning in their neighbors,” he said. “We have enough problems--drugs, gangs--where neighborhoods have a lot of tension without having people turning in their neighbors for watering their roses.”

But Downey said that, in the face of dire drought conditions statewide, city officials are planning to reconvene a voluntary conservation task force formed by the mayor last year.

“It would be premature to say she’s

going to do this or that,” he said. “But it is safe to say she will be active in the effort to save water. We will utilize her. She is certainly the best spokesperson in town--on any issue, but for this issue in particular.”

In September, San Diegans decreased their consumption 4.9% from projected water use based on a five-year average that has been adjusted to reflect population growth. In October, the savings rate plummeted to 0.7%, recovering slightly in November and December, with 1.3% and 2.9% savings, respectively.

But Downey said the single-digit savings rates of recent months do not reflect the failure of the voluntary program because--at the county’s request, Downey said--the city program targeted only the summer months.

“The County Water Authority said, ‘We need a 10% cut for those four months. If we make that, we should be OK, provided there isn’t a fifth year of drought.’ Our target for the voluntary water conservation program was the four critical months,” he said, noting that on average during June, July, August and September, the city met the 10% goal.

But, according to Chuck Rhodes, the assistant general manager of resources for the County Water Authority, his office put no such time limit on the cutbacks it recommended last April.

“I don’t recall that we ever confined it to that period,” he said, recalling the April meeting at which the authority asked its 23 customers to limit lawn watering, car washing and irrigation to certain hours and days--conditions that define a Stage II water alert.

“We have asked all our member agencies to stay in mandatory Stage II,” he said, noting that of the 23 members, the city of San Diego was the only one that opted for a voluntary program. “We didn’t make any special conditions for any of our agencies. We kept our recommended Stage II in effect until right now. It’s still in effect.”

Councilman Filner said that, despite Downey’s statements, that policy was made very clear to the council. He said his understanding was that the county’s 10% reduction goal was open-ended--not limited to the summer months.

“What was in mind was saving 10%, no matter when. That was my assumption. I never assumed that meant only the summer,” he said. “For the mayor’s spokesman to say that shows things are even worse than I thought.”

“We are in a permanent state of water shortage (that is) just too critical to give the signal that somehow a PR campaign that is only short-term is going to solve the problem,” he said. “The problem is both critical and long-term. We have got to move forward on more effective policies.”

Rhodes said he suspects that, in recent months, many of the member agencies that adopted mandatory measures probably experienced drop-offs in savings similar to the city of San Diego’s. Because there is less non-essential water use during the winter, he said, people find it more difficult to conserve.

Officials at some of the water authority’s other member agencies agreed.

Keith Lewinger, the general manager of the Otay Water District, said his savings totals have dropped in recent months--in some months to no savings at all--although he reported a December savings rate of 17%. Bob Friedgen, manager of the Helix Water District, also reported a winter downturn.

Yet overall, from May 1, 1990, through Jan. 22, his agency’s mandatory measures accomplished an average 9% savings from the previous year. When adjusted for growth, as the city of San Diego’s figures are, those figures would meet the 10% goal, he said.

Friedgen disagreed with Downey’s assertion that voluntary conservation measures make for better community spirit.

“People need guidelines and need to be treated fairly and equally,” he said. Under a voluntary plan, he said, “if one guy voluntarily saves water by letting his lawn die but his next-door neighbor says, ‘I can afford it,’ and has a green, lush lawn, I think you create a lot of animosity among people. It’s better if everybody has to have a brown lawn.”

VOLUNTARY WATER CONSERVATION

Month Savings JUNE,1990 15.2% JULY 9.8% AUGUST 12.6% SEPTEMBER 4.9% OCTOBER 0.7% NOVEMBER 1.3% DECEMBER 2.9%

Total average savings, June through December: 7.4%

JANUARY, 1991 (thru the 30th) 10.3%

Source: City of San Diego Water Utilities Department