The Family That Saves Together : Ventura: The Fleurs sacrificed long showers and a lawn to conserve more than 900 gallons a day.

The Fleur family had to give up long showers, start recycling their kids’ bathwater and let their back-yard lawn die--but they finally succeeded.

The family of four cut their daily water use by more than 75% to meet the city of Ventura’s 10-month-old conservation measures. The Fleurs reduced their water consumption from about 1,200 gallons to slightly less than 294 gallons a day.

“I was really surprised . . . how easy it was to cut it way down,” said Robert Fleur, who lives with his wife, Sharon, and two daughters in the 100 block of Wake Forest Avenue.

“The city came out with a whole lot of information initially as to how to cut down,” he said. “We put soda-pop bottles full of water in our toilet tanks. We’re real careful about not letting the water run. We’re limiting ourselves to five-minute showers or less.”

“It’s livable, you know,” Sharon Fleur said. “I just feel like, until we get water, we’ve just got to hope the powers that be are doing the same thing and that, after the water does come, we do get to ease up and not sustain these kinds of penalty rates.”

The Fleurs have kept their bimonthly water bills to about $60, with the most recent bill totaling $58.65 for the period from Oct. 30 to Dec. 24, Sharon Fleur said.

Dishes in the Fleur home are rinsed in a full sink, not under a running tap. Cooking water is reused to keep the plants alive. The washing machine is run only with full loads.

“And when we have company with small children, we share the bathtub water a couple times over with baths by doubling up,” Sharon Fleur said.

Nine-year-old Vanessa said she doesn’t mind getting drinking water out of a refrigerated bottle, instead of waiting for tap water to run cold. Nor does she mind the timer her mother puts in the bathroom during her showers to remind her when her five minutes are up.

But, she said, “the back yard isn’t too pretty. It’s OK. Nobody really sees it.”

Her parents said they do not like the looks of the back lawn either, or the front lawn for that matter. The back yard has gone to soil, and the front is being watered once or twice a week.

“I hate our lawn,” Sharon Fleur said. “It’s brown and dead around the edges, where it needs the most moisture.”

But Robert Fleur said he plans to replant the yards with a less thirsty breed of grass.

He added, “It’s hard to believe how much water you can waste without even thinking about it. I used to leave the water running when brushing my teeth, and there’s no reason to do that.”

The couple said conserving water may be easier this summer, when the city’s daily allotment for this family of four will increase to 417 gallons for April through October.

And they are amazed that people have such trouble keeping within the allotment for a family of four--particularly when fewer than four people live in a house. Single-family homes with up to four people get the same allotment of water.

“I was in the mall one day, listening to somebody in the store,” Robert Fleur said. “There was a lady talking about just her and her husband living in a condominium and using something like 2,200 gallons a day.

“She said she was economizing, and she didn’t know how she could possibly save any water.”

Fleur said Venturans exceeding their water allotments “are having trouble because they’re just not trying, or they’ve got large areas of lawn to water.”

But Sharon Fleur says she still dreams of taking her time in the shower.

“It’s a luxury,” she added wistfully.

WATER RATIONING Chart shows the number of gallons of water allowed per household per day before penalties.

Quota Monthly penalties Water Avg. for exceeding quota City supplier House By 10% By 20% Camarillo City 349 $0.20 $0.40 Camrosa Water Dist. 295 $1.80 $3.60 Fillmore City none none none Moorpark County water works 424 $0.13 $0.26 Ojai SoCal Water Co. none none none Oxnard City 400 $0.80 $1.60 Pt. Hueneme City none none none Santa Paula Santa Paula none none none Water Works Simi Valley City 624 $2.83 $5.65 SoCal Water Co. none none none Thousand Oaks City none none none Ventura City 294 $9.35 $18.70