Water Ordinance Proposed for Lomita

Pressured by public outcry over flagrant water waste by some Lomita residents, the City Council agreed on a 5-0 vote Monday to consider a stopgap conservation measure that would outlaw, among other things, the hosing of sidewalks and driveways, as well as watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The proposed ordinance will be the subject of a public hearing at the council’s March 18 meeting.

If approved, it would remain in place only until a comprehensive water-rationing measure with revised rate schedules is passed by the council. But the council indicated that elements of the interim ordinance likely will be incorporated into the larger plan. The council still is awaiting guidelines from the Metropolitan Water District before it fashions its comprehensive plan.

The stopgap measure would impose fines of up to $100 for first-time violators, $200 for second offenders and as much as $500 for transgressors flagged three times within a year.

All the council members voted for the ordinance, though there were reservations about how to police it. Councilman Bob Hargrave called the proposal “a shopping list of things that we can’t enforce.”

Councilman Harold Croyts said: “If someone wants to waste water and pay for it, then that’s his prerogative.”