Water Board Delays Vote on Conservation

The State Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday delayed a vote on a plan requiring Californians to conserve water, saying that rather than acting on its own, the powerful panel wants to work with Gov. Pete Wilson in dealing with the statewide drought.

At the same time, Chairman Don Maughan and his staff appeared to be backing away from severe water rationing plans that are under consideration.

The board had been scheduled to rule today on recommendations to drastically cut water usage, including a 300-gallon-a-day limit on residential water users. But Maughan announced that the hearing would be delayed until Feb. 26, saying that any board action should wait until after Wilson’s newly appointed drought task force of top officials reports its recommendations Feb. 15.

Maughan said the board wants to act in concert with the Wilson task force. The board, which is part of the task force, is an independent agency whose members were appointed by former Gov. George Deukmejian.

The task force was formed last Thursday to give the governor guidance on managing drought-shrunken water supplies, over which he also has broad powers.

Gubernatorial press secretary Bill Livingstone said the decision to delay board action on a variety of proposed restrictions emerged as a consensus of task force officials who met for the first time Tuesday.

“It doesn’t make sense for board members to come out separately from the drought team when they are part of it and there is going to be recommendations made the following week,” he said.

The board, one of the most powerful regulatory agencies in state government, is authorized to take such severe steps as imposing a statewide system of water rationing, if necessary, which would affect every Californian.

Maughan and his staff have indicated in recent days that they want to chart a course away from broadly brushed mandatory restrictions that would affect agricultural and municipal users and drought-threatened fisheries.

Instead, they have said they favor proposals that would give water districts flexibility in meeting local needs and circumstances.

“We are pursuing some action and we are not going to move too fast,” Maughan told a legislative committee.

One controversial proposal raised by the board last week would limit household use of water to 300 gallons a day. State officials estimate normal use at 100 to 200 gallons per person daily.

Wilson has made it clear that he had his own authority to deal with the drought. He created his task force two days after the board concluded preliminary drought hearings. The governor has indicated that he favors a cautious but firm approach to allocating scarce water among competing uses.