MWD to Fine Cities, Districts $11 Million

The Metropolitan Water District disclosed Thursday that it will assess nearly $11 million in penalties against Southern California cities and water districts that failed to significantly reduce water consumption during February.

Officials for the water wholesaler also released a list identifying which agencies complied and which fell short of MWD’s 17% conservation goal for the month.

Leading the agencies slated for penalties was the City of Pasadena, which used 122% more water than was alloted by MWD, and the Coastal Municipal Water District of Orange County, which exceeded goals by 90%.

Topping those agencies slated for financial rewards for conserving water were the City of Anaheim, which used 80% less than its allotment and the City of Santa Ana, which beat its targeted consumption by 77%.

Among the big water users, the City of Los Angeles purchased 16% less water than it was alloted by MWD while the San Diego County Water Authority bought 46% above its allotment--and may face a $4-million penalty as a result.

Officials said it was too early to give a breakdown of the other penalties to be levied against cities and districts because some may be entitled to “adjustments” for growth or unexpected equipment breakdowns in their water systems.

Jay Malinowski, assistant chief of operations, said the MWD board of directors will be asked to delay assessing penalties for one month to give water agencies an opportunity to make up for some of their excesses. If those agencies are able to reduce consumption in March, he said, the savings can be used to offset the earlier overusage.

“In my mind some of these penalty charges are higher than member agencies would have expected,” Malinowski said.

MWD’s conservation plan provides for a system of rewards and penalties to encourage the 27 water agencies it serves to reduce consumption. Agencies that use more water than alloted must pay an additional $394 for every acre-foot used above that amount. An acre-foot is the amount of water used by a typical Los Angeles family of five in 18 months.

Cities and water agencies that use less than their allotments are paid a bonus by MWD of $99 for every acre-foot they save.

In general, Malinowski said, agencies that rely heavily on MWD for their water supplies--such as San Diego and Orange County’s Coastal Municipal Water District--performed worst.

On the other hand, he said, cities such as Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Anaheim, which have underground and other sources of water, showed they were in better positions to reduce MWD consumption.

He said a few agencies with underground sources failed to meet MWD consumption guidelines in an apparent effort to save up for the hot summer months.

The City of Pasadena, which relies on MWD for about 60% of its water, was among those that intentionally purchased more MWD water last month to eventually help it through the summer season, said Willard O. Bangham, water system administrator.

Nonetheless, Pasadena officials are “a little perplexed,” and even somewhat miffed by the thought of MWD penalties because they requested a February allocation of 1,651 acre-feet in January, Bangham said. MWD authorities did not respond until Feb. 25, telling Pasadena it could have only 730 acre-feet.

“The ironic thing is we probably have done as much or more with water conservation programs than many other agencies,” Bangham said, citing last year’s campaign to fit more than 30,000 residences with low-flow shower heads, faucet devices and toilet dams.

In Orange County, officials in Santa Ana and Anaheim attributed their success to aggressive conservation and ample ground water. Both cities get about 70% of their supplies from underground wells.

“Typically we try to maximize what we can pump from our ground water anyway because it’s a cheaper source of water than what we buy from the MWD,” said Ray Merchant, spokesman for the Anaheim Public Utilities Department.

In Ventura County, the Calleguas Municipal Water District exceeded its allocation by 24% and was an example of a community trying to keep up with growth, said General Manager James Hubert.

The area’s population increased by 5% over the previous year, Hubert said. In addition, two of the district’s largest water users, the cities of Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, have lagged in cutting water use through mandatory restrictions and fines. “If the enforcement had been in place, it would have made a difference before now,” he said.

Times staff writer Joanna Miller reported from Ventura County; Henry Chu reported from Orange County and Berkley Hudson reported from Pasadena.

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MWD WATER USERS AND SAVERS

This is a sampling from the Metropolitan Water District’s list of top water savers and users in February. The allotments reflect the MWD’s cutbacks of 17% from the number of acre-feet of water these agencies used in February, 1990. The purchased column indicates how many acre-feet were bought from the MWD last month. Those Who Conserved

ALLOTMENT PURCHASED UNDER TARGET Los Angeles 25,910 21,988 3,922, or 16% Anaheim 1,435 296 1,139, or 80% Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District 11,224 653 10,571, or 95%

Those Who Used Too Much

ALLOTMENT PURCHASED OVER TARGET Pasadena 729 1,617 888, or 122% Coastal Municipal Water District (South Orange Cty) 2,436 4,787 2,351, or 97% San Diego 29,835 43,315 13,480, or 46%