YORBA LINDA : Hearing Scheduled on Water Ordinance

The Yorba Linda Water District will hold a public hearing March 28 to consider a water conservation ordinance that would require residents to reduce consumption by 18%.

Although the five-member district board is expected to adopt the ordinance, it is uncertain whether the conservation measures will be voluntary or mandatory.

The board had been leaning toward a voluntary plan but that could change because of more stringent requirements imposed by the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies 55% of the Yorba Linda district’s water. The MWD approved a 24% rate increase earlier this week to make up for the huge reduction in water sales it will suffer this year.

“Things are changing so fast,” said Mike Robinson, a spokesman for the Yorba Linda district. “Right now, it’s like hitting a moving target.”

The Yorba Linda district serves about 60,000 residents and businesses in most of Yorba Linda and parts of Placentia, Anaheim, Brea and unincorporated Orange County.

The district obtains the remaining 45% of its water from seven underground wells. District officials say that one well is being reactivated and two new wells are being constructed and will be operating by the end of the year.

Robinson said district officials believe their customers will meet the conservation measures voluntarily. Even without the plan, customers had decreased their consumption by 6% to 7% in late 1990, he said. District officials are recommending that outdoor residential water use be cut by one-third to reach the 18% reduction goal.

The Yorba Linda plan also requests that commercial businesses reduce consumption by 18% of their average, and agricultural and landscape operations reduce by 33%.

The plan also gives the board the ability to make the conservation measures mandatory and to impose water cuts of up to 50% for some customers.

Under a mandatory plan, customers exceeding the consumption limits would be charged $1.52 per hundred cubic feet on all water in excess of their allotted amount. The normal rate is 61 cents per 100 cubic feet.