La Habra to Enforce Water-Tight Rules : Drought: The restrictions--the toughest in the county--limit lawn watering and car washing. Other cities may follow suit.

Signaling what California’s drought may hold in store for many Orange County cities, La Habra this week imposed the most sweeping water-use restrictions in the county, including limited days for watering lawns and washing cars.

La Habra is the second Orange County city this year to react to the drought by placing a long list of mandatory restrictions on residents. Santa Ana imposed similar rules Jan. 22, but La Habra is taking the extra step of limiting lawn sprinkling, car washing and pool filling to odd/even days, based on residential and business addresses.

On Tuesday, the Anaheim City Council will consider an emergency ordinance similar to La Habra’s that would take effect March 1. Under the proposed ordinance, so-called water police (civilian water advisers) would be on the prowl for water running onto pavement, leaky faucets and other instances where it is being wasted. Tipsters would be able to call a telephone hot line.

Throughout Orange County, other cities and water districts are standing by with similar drought plans. Many are waiting to see how bad the shortage gets before they resort to mandatory restrictions on households and businesses.

La Habra’s new rules are designed to cut water consumption by 10% to 20% in the North County city of about 50,000 residents, City Manager Lee Risner said.

“We have to call upon our citizens to conserve water or we will have to pay very hefty penalties,” Risner said.

La Habra businesses or homes with addresses ending in an even number can use water outdoors only on even-numbered calendar days, and addresses ending in an odd number are restricted to odd-numbered days.

“We’ve done this mainly because our city manager is very attuned to water issues in this area,” said Elray Hanna, La Habra’s general manager of public services. “He sees tighter restrictions down the road. It’s going to happen--we have no choice. So we might as well start the process now.”

La Habra has no “water police,” and residents who violate the rules will get verbal warnings. But if they are persistent violators, they can face penalties.

“If someone is really arrogant about it and pushes us to the wall, we would go out and put a flow restricter in their water line,” Hanna said. “And if that didn’t stop them, then we could pull the meter (which shuts off their water) and charge them a fee to reinstall it. That’s only in an extreme case.”

Santa Ana has imposed many of the same rules as La Habra, except for the odd-even day restrictions. Santa Ana limits residents and businesses to watering lawns at night, between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m., and bans washing down sidewalks and driveways.

Santa Ana also requires people to use buckets or control nozzles when washing their car and prohibits restaurants from providing water on tables unless it is requested by customers. A warning is issued for the first offense, but repeat violators can face fines of 15% of their water bill.

San Clemente imposed similar restrictions last year because its reservoir was low and a new pipeline had not yet been completed. San Clemente ended its mandatory rationing in September and now has voluntary conservation measures in place.

Several cities and water districts, including Newport Beach and Irvine Ranch Water District, have already implemented new rate systems that encourage conservation by charging customers heavy fines when they exceed a certain allowance.

Orange County cities are restricting water use or are on the verge of doing so because the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is cutting its water deliveries to local districts by an average of 17% effective March 1. Those cities that don’t cut back face paying three times as much for any water that exceeds their allotment.

In a meeting next week, the agency is expected to increase that cutback to about 30%.

Orange County gets about half its water from MWD, which imports water for six Southern California counties from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River.

The state has suffered four consecutive dry winters, and this year seems likely to become the fifth. The winter so far has been the state’s driest ever and the rainy season ends in another month. Sierra Nevada snowfall is down dramatically and reservoirs are extremely low.

Northern Orange County, which lies atop a huge ground water basin, is considered more drought-proof than southern Orange County, the city of Los Angeles and surrounding counties. The ground water basin means it doesn’t have to import as much water from Northern California.

But, unlike its neighbors in northern Orange County, La Habra doesn’t have access to the county’s ground-water basin.

La Habra gets its water from two sources, California Domestic Water Co., which has wells in the San Gabriel basin in Los Angeles County, and MWD, which gets much of its water from the drought-stricken Sierra Nevada.

Since both those supplies are hurting, “La Habra will be hit on both ends,” Hanna said.

Risner has already ordered the La Habra parks department to cut water use by 20% to set an example for the city.

“We’re just trying to encourage everyone to voluntarily cut back. We don’t want to have a corps of water cops out there,” Risner said.

La Habra’s city manager has the authority to impose the rules without council approval. But the City Council will have the opportunity at its next meeting Feb. 19 to rescind, approve or modify the restrictions.

Other La Habra restrictions:

* Lawn watering, landscape and construction irrigation are banned during the daytime, even on the designated odd/even days. Lawns can be watered only between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. People are allowed, however, to water landscaping at any time using a 5-gallon bucket or smaller container filled from a faucet.

* Washing automobiles and boats is allowed on the appropriate odd/even days only at night, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., and a bucket or hose with a shut-off nozzle must be used. Commercial car washes are exempt from this provision.

* Filling swimming pools, spas, ponds or artificial lakes is permitted only on those designated odd/even days, and only between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

* Washing down sidewalks, parking areas, patios and tennis courts is banned at all times, except for sanitation reasons. Use of ornamental fountains also is banned.

* Restaurants can serve water only when it is requested by patrons.

* Commercial nurseries, agriculture and livestock users are exempt from the irrigation restrictions, but must cut back on all non-essential water use.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Kathie Bozanich and Danny Sullivan, and correspondents Zion Banks, Lisa Mascaro, Frank Messina and John Penner.