Torrance Eases Water-Use Rules

The city of Torrance has softened its new water-use restrictions and will allow residents to water their lawns during specified hours every day.

Torrance had planned to forbid lawn-watering more frequently than every other day but concluded that enforcement “was almost impossible to police,” said city Water Utility Director William G. Heisner.

The water conservation program, which goes into effect today, seeks to cut back water consumption 20% from 1989 levels. All water consumers will use the calendar year 1989 as a base year--a change from earlier plans in which commercial and industrial consumers were to use the 1989-90 fiscal year as their base.

The council also shortened the hours in which lawn-watering is forbidden. Residents will be forbidden to water lawns from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ban originally was to last until 6 p.m.

City water employees will patrol streets to enforce the watering restrictions, Heisner said, adding that public interest in the program is intense. The city is receiving 100 to 200 calls daily about the restrictions, with one employee fielding 118 calls in a single day.