County Slow to Cut Water Use Though Crisis Looms : Conservation: Of its 10 cities, only Ventura has imposed stiff penalties for waste. Most residents haven’t reduced consumption at all.

Even though California is suffering its worst drought since the 1930s and a severe statewide water shortage is predicted for summer, officials in Ventura County have resisted mandatory water rationing. And new figures show that most county residents still have not cut water use.

Indeed, only half of the county’s 10 cities have enacted water-rationing laws. And of those five, Ventura alone has imposed stiff fines for overuse. And no other city has limited consumption to the extent state officials say is needed even if normal rains return this spring to Northern California--the source of water to most houses here.

Thousand Oaks, for example, has yet to impose mandatory rationing, even though the city uses 40% more water per person than the countywide average and 34% more than other cities in Southern California with similar arid climates. In Simi Valley, the city has imposed a quota so high that it allows most households to use water near peak summer levels without penalty. And the third of the city that gets water from a private company is under no restrictions at all.

Both Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, the county’s second- and third-largest cities, get all of their water from the mountains of Northern California, where reservoirs are at record-low levels and where cities have imposed cuts of up to 50% on residents and fines as stiff as $1,000 for waste.

Some officials said they are concerned about what they consider slow responses to the drought by cities and water agencies in Ventura County, which gets about two-thirds of its residential water supply from the north through a state aqueduct.

“We should have acted more deliberately a year ago,” said county Supervisor John K. Flynn, co-chairman of a statewide water task force. “But being on state water maybe gave the cities a feeling that everything was OK. It’s kind of a lifeline to the north.”

Regional water officials also say that most local water agencies and city councils are reacting too slowly to the water shortage.

“The local water purveyors should be doing things on their own and not be waiting to be led by the MWD,” said Jay Malinowski, assistant director of operations for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California--which provides water to 15 million people in six counties, including 450,000 in Ventura County.

The MWD last month imposed 10% cuts on residential and industrial use and 30% reductions on agricultural use. And the district is expected to increase those restrictions on Tuesday.

In another apparent reaction to local handling of the water crisis, the county grand jury has concluded after months of study that a countywide water authority should replace the patchwork of 178 agencies that control water cost and distribution in the county.

How Ventura County and the rest of Southern California--a desert that bloomed with water from the north--respond to the drought is expected to be a divisive political issue this year, state officials said.

For three decades, importation of water from the wet north to the dry south has divided the regions. And as the drought has deepened, a state water agency has begun a survey of cities and counties in both regions to determine which areas are imposing the strictest quotas on water use, officials said.

“That is going to be a major issue this year,” said Suzanne Butterfield, chief of local assistance for the California Department of Water Resources. “There is going to be a fair amount of acrimony about it.”

A state board that controls California water is considering a worst-case drought scenario that would require severe reductions statewide. One of 18 measures before the State Water Resources Control Board at its Feb. 26 meeting would eliminate all water shipments to Southern California.

That would leave the Southland with only 23% of its normal supply from the north for the year and would translate into a cut of up to 45% for Ventura County residents who depend on state water, according to the MWD.

The MWD’s customers probably will weather the cuts better than residents of Northern California, because Metropolitan supplements its supply from northern reservoirs with water from the Colorado River. Last year, the district received nearly half of its water from the river.

Metropolitan provides all the water for Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley and most water for Moorpark, Camarillo and Oxnard through the Calleguas Municipal Water District.

Water supplies to Ventura County’s other five cities are in jeopardy as well.

In fact, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Port Hueneme depend entirely on water from underground basins that are nearing record-low levels, and the cities may soon face cutbacks of up to 25%, said water officials there.

Rainfall averaging just over half of normal since 1986 has further depleted the county’s ground-water basins, many of which have been over-pumped since the 1920s. The lack of rain has also lowered Lake Casitas and Lake Piru, which augment well water to those three cities plus Ventura and Ojai.

Ojai, which gets most of its water from wells, is in better shape than the rest of the county, because slow growth has preserved ground water, and its 21 inches of annual rainfall in normal years is the highest in the area. The city allows just 25 new dwellings a year.

But depletion of the county’s ground water outside the Ojai Valley has prompted two large regulatory agencies to suggest at least 15% cuts in pumping this year. Over-pumping in the Oxnard Aquifer already has allowed seawater to seep into fresh water near the ocean, making it unusable.

Fines are being considered to cut pumping in nine of the county’s 10 largest water basins--the source of nearly all the well water in the area.

Bob Quinn, manager of a state-authorized agency set up to reverse over-pumping of the Fox Canyon Aquifer beneath the Oxnard Plain, said fines for overuse should be more than doubled.

“It’s cheaper now to pay (the fines) than to get efficient” by using better irrigation methods, Quinn said. The maximum fine is $200 an acre-foot, or 0.06 of a cent per gallon. An acre-foot is 325,850 gallons, a year’s supply for two average households.

The county’s nearly 2,000 farmers who depend on ground water for economic survival would be hit hardest by the fines and pumping quotas.

Ventura County’s giant agricultural industry, not its 669,000 residents, uses the bulk of its water supply.

About two-thirds of the 425,000 acre-feet of water consumed here each year goes to agriculture. And wells provide about 86% of farmers’ water from vast subterranean reservoirs holding as much as 5 million acre-feet, water experts say.

Ground-water managers fear such apparent abundance, though partly offset by questionable water quality and the cost of pumping from deep wells, will further tempt east county cities and farmers to make up for MWD cutbacks with water from the overdrafted basins.

Applications to drill new wells countywide jumped 125%, up to 225, the county reported. And since last week, when the state announced it was cutting water to farmers, 15 growers who use some state water have applied for new wells, Quinn said.

Frederick J. Gientke, general manager of United Water Conservation District, an agency that replenishes seven ground-water basins, said he will fight efforts to replace lost imports with well water.

“United ground water is not going to be the bucket into which all the thirsty cities dip,” he said. Gientke said he will also push for new rules to force farmers who already use ground water to reduce waste by converting from flood irrigation to more efficient drip or sprinkler systems.

Water experts and local officials agree that the drought--coupled with a 26% surge in population during the 1980s--has forced Ventura County to deal with problems of water supply and demand that have lingered for decades.

Yet, those officials--including the heads of the three largest water districts--are divided on the best ways to respond to water shortages or on how to ensure reliable supplies in the future.

Flynn has lobbied for a countywide water authority for three years. Under his plan, the new agency would have the power to force water rationing, reclamation of sewage water and sharing among water districts. It would also set water costs and could develop new water sources.

“There are 178 water fiefdoms in Ventura County, and none wants to surrender any piece, however small, of its domain and sovereignty,” Flynn wrote last year in an open letter to the community.

Development of a water authority is also backed by the county grand jury, which is preparing a report recommending a super-agency with broad powers, water sources said last week.

A countywide authority previously has received little support, and water managers and public officials said they still have strong reservations about it.

“Is a water authority going to be able to develop new sources of water?” asked Jim Hubert, general manager of the Calleguas district, the largest water supplier in the county. “It would turn out to be just another layer of bureaucracy.”

John Johnson, general manager at the Casitas Municipal Water District, which delivers water to Ventura and the Ojai Valley, said the Ojai basin is considering its own water authority.

“A lot of other agencies out there are just beginning to understand how difficult times have become,” Johnson said. “It’s one thing to conserve and another thing to give it away at the expense of the safety of your own supply.”

Lake Casitas is still about half full because the Casitas district has limited new hookups and based its water sales on a plan that anticipated a drought, Johnson said.

Water rationing imposed by the city of Ventura when faced with the Casitas district’s complaints of overuse is an example of what regional water officials say must be done across Southern California this year.

With its water supplies 17% below normal because the Ventura River was almost dry, Ventura officials declared a water emergency in March. Over the next nine months, city rationing led to reductions approaching 30% and an overall cut for the full year of 20%.

Ventura’s rationing law is by far the most stringent in the county. And while it has resulted in widespread compliance by customers, it has also shown how much opposition can be expected as water shortages force other cities to impose restrictions.

“There are a lot of folks out there that are not happy that the city began rationing,” Ventura Mayor Richard Francis said. “A lot of homeowners have a sense of denial.”

About 500 of the city’s 26,000 customers have refused to ration at all, Francis said. They have exceeded their allotments for three straight two-month billing periods, despite the stiffest fine in the county--a $9.35 monthly surcharge for a typical household using 10% more water than allowed.

Several other Ventura County cities last year imposed fines for obvious water waste, such as sprinkling lawns during daytime hours or hosing down driveways.

Four cities have followed Ventura’s lead by approving water quotas. Three of the cities instituted 10% cuts following announcement by the regional MWD in January that it would impose penalties on water purveyors if cities fail to save 10%. But the penalties imposed by local officials are small, ranging from 13 cents a month for 10% overuse in Moorpark to $2.83 a month in Simi Valley.

And in Simi Valley, the 10% cut was based on peak summertime use, city officials said. As a result, most homeowners probably will not exceed their allotments until June or July, even if they continue to consume water as usual.

Simi Valley’s household quota of 624 gallons a day is more than double the 294-gallon base allotment to a family of four in Ventura and is far higher than the quotas in other Ventura County cities.

Mayor Gregory Stratton of Simi Valley said that, since more water is used in summer, the city will gather enough fines to cover penalties assessed by the MWD. The MWD charges its customers, such as the Calleguas district serving Simi Valley, an extra $123 an acre-foot for water over their allotments. The usual charge is $271 an acre-foot.

“The system was designed to recover enough money to cover those penalties,” he said. “Our hope is that recognition of the drought will encourage people to save on their own.”

Michael Kleinbrodt, Simi Valley’s spokesman on water issues, added: ‘It’s the consumer who has to save water. We’re not a police state here.”

While Simi Valley’s rationing ordinance is lenient, the city reported a 4% reduction in water use in 1990, and its per-person consumption was at the countywide average in 1989, according to a county report.

Thousand Oaks, still without quotas, had the highest water use of any Ventura County city for the same period. City officials imposed fines for wasting water on Feb. 1, but no date has been set for a planned 10% mandatory cutback on residential and business use.

Paul Swenson, a city water planner, said the city is hoping for a 10% reduction because of the new fines and is waiting to see whether the MWD board imposes a 20% cutback at its Feb. 12 meeting.

“We’re doing what Metropolitan indicates we should be doing,” Thousand Oaks Mayor Frank Schillo said. “If they tell us to cut back 50%, we’ll do it.”

But Malinowski of the MWD said local water agencies and city councils should be moving faster in the face of a drought that will force 20% to 45% cuts this year, depending on rainfall in the north.

Metropolitan’s 51-member board of directors is expected to approve 15% to 20% cuts for households this week, and that is probably just the beginning, Malinowski said.

“They shouldn’t be waiting to see what our board does. We only meet monthly,” he said. “We’ve got to get everybody on a strict water diet.”

In Ventura County, overall water use has been about average for Southern California zones with similar climates, and per-person use was constant during the past two years, the MWD reports.

While cities such as Thousand Oaks and Camarillo generally have large residential lots that use more water, consumption in Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Ventura was below average in 1989--the last year monitored by the county.

The county reported that Oxnard used the least water per person of any city, 143 gallons a day. That compares to the county average of 205 and a high of 286 gallons in Thousand Oaks.

Oxnard officials said that is partly because of the city’s unusually large number of apartments, generally smaller lots and its cooler coastal climate.

As Ventura County cuts consumption to meet immediate demands of the drought, local officials say they expect to work together to ensure that the county has a reliable water supply for the future.

Flynn has invited mayors and water-agency managers to a meeting Monday to discuss solutions to water problems.

Among the most promising new water sources being considered are sewage-water recycling, desalination of ocean water and a new pipeline to bring in more state aqueduct water.

Many officials agree with Calleguas water district manager Hubert about the best means of dealing with the drought. “The cheapest and best way to get water is still to conserve it,” he said.

THE COUNTY’S WATER PICTURE

(1.) Water imported from Northern California reaches Ventura County through the California Aqueduct. (2.) A small amount is diverted to Lake Piru, and then is released into the Santa Clara River and sinks into ground-water basins. (3.) Large amounts of aqueduct water are also piped westward through Simi Valley and distributed to five local cities. (4.) Lake Casitas water goes to Ventura and Ojai. Most of the water for cities comes from the aqueduct, while nearly all of the water for farms comes from wells.

* Where each city’s water comes from (Percent from each of three sources) Camarillo Wells: 50% Imported: 50% Fillmore Wells: 100% Moorpark Wells: 25% Imported: 75% Ojai Wells: 80% Imported: 20% Oxnard Wells: 33% Imported: 67% Port Hueneme Wells: 100% Santa Paula Wells: 100% Simi Valley Imported: 100% Thousand Oaks Imported: 100% Ventura Wells: 57% Rivers / Reservoirs: 43% COUNTYWIDE (Residential use) Wells: 28% Imported: 65% Rivers / Reservoirs: 7%

* Overall county water sources and use WATER SOURCE* Wells: 67% Imported: 22% Rivers, Reservoirs: 10.5 WATER USE Agriculture: 68% Residential: 22% Commercial, Industrial: 10% * Includes .5% reclaimed water

DROUGHTS THIS CENTURY

* 1986 to Present: Average rainfall in Ventura County was 58.5% of normal for the first four years. So far this year, the county is at 19% of normal rainfall. If this trend continues, 1991 would become the driest year since officials began keeping rainfall records in 1868, and the five-year drought period would be the driest on record.

* 1975 to 1977: Average rainfall was 75% of normal in Ventura County, although the drought was more severe statewide. The Metropolitan Water District imposed mandatory 10% rationing on its Southern California customers.

* 1944 to 1951: Average rainfall in Ventura County during the seven-year period was 56.1% of normal, with rainfall below 50% of normal from 1948 through 1950. The drought prompted voters to approve building the dam that formed Lake Casitas.

* 1927 to 1931: Average rainfall during the four-year period was 80% of normal in Ventura County. Although the drought was not as severe as later ones, it prompted the first countywide commission to study ground- and surface-water resources. Ironically, it was in 1928 when the San Francisquito Dam broke because of faulty construction and 450 people died along the Santa Clara River.

‘89 PER CAPITA WATER USE

Gallons per day per person. Total water use for each city includes residential, commercial, industrial and government use divided by total population.

Oxnard Port Hueneme Santa Paula Fillmore Ventura Ojai Simi Valley Countywide Moorpark Camarillo Oak Park Thousand Oaks Source: Ventura County Water Conservation Program