LAGUNA BEACH : Rates to Double for Excess Water Used

Customers of the South Coast Water District will have to cut their water use to 90% of last year’s levels or face a surcharge as of March 1, the district board has decided.

Under the new plan, water used in excess of the 90% level will will cost about twice the usual rates--a jump from 98 cents per 100 cubic feet to $1.90 per 100 cubic feet, said district spokeswoman Linda Jones.

Irrigation customers who do not use reclaimed water are being asked to cut back even further, to 80% of their 1990 totals, or face a doubling of their rates.

The South Coast Water District serves portions of Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Laguna Niguel.

The surcharges are a response to similar price hikes levied on the district by its supplier, the Metropolitan Water District, Jones said.

“We’re just passing it through,” Jones said. “The district will be surcharging us for anything we purchase over 90% of last year for the same time period.”

Further steps are possible, pending action by the MWD, Jones said. In a letter sent to the district’s 6,500 customers this month, the South Coast Water District indicated that if MWD asks its users to cut back to 80% of its totals, as expected, the district would again pass that cost along, Jones said.

For irrigation customers not using reclaimed water, that could mean being asked to cut back by 40%, Jones said.

The notices, which were sent out last week, have generated a deluge of phone calls, Jones said.

“We’ve had about 300 calls on this since last Friday,” Jones said. “Most people aren’t necessarily upset about the cost, but believe that they have special circumstances of one kind or another. Unfortunately, there is only so much water in the reservoirs and that’s the way it is.”

A special program exists for customers who use very little water, Jones said. Any customer who uses less than 1,500 cubic feet of water in a two-month period will be exempt from the surcharge and not asked to cut back further, Jones said.