ANAHEIM : Mandatory Plan to Save Water Passed

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a mandatory water-saving plan that includes fines for offenders and gives the city-owned utility company authority to cut off water to repeat violators.

Scheduled to go into effect April 1, the mandatory cuts are intended to reduce Anaheim’s water use by 25%.

“Plan 2 really is a minor extension of the voluntary conservation program,” said Edward K. Aghjayan, general manager of public utilities. “It’s not rationing.”

Called Plan 2 because it follows voluntary reduction and precedes water rationing, the conservation plan prohibits a number of residential and commercial water uses for customers buying city water.

The cuts ban using water to wash paved surfaces, including sidewalks, driveways, parking areas and walkways. Water also cannot be used to fill decorative pools, such as fountains or ponds, unless a water recycling system is on-line, and swimming pools may not be refilled.

The plan also restricts watering of landscaping to three times a week and bans it between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. unless reclaimed waste water is used. Allowing water to run off from landscaped areas is a violation.

Residents can also be fined for failing to fix leaky faucets, and restaurants are prohibited from serving water without a customer’s request.

First-time violators will be issued written notices, and further offenses will be met with $25 fines that increase to $75 on the fourth violation. Additional violations will result in forced reductions or discontinued service from the city utility company.

Commercial and industrial water customers using more than 25,000 billing units per year are required to submit conservation plans to the utility department with quarterly progress reports.

The city’s water conservation hot line--999-DRIP--for questions and to report water wasters remains operational 24 hours a day.

On April 2, the City Council will discuss the possibility of imposing a drought surcharge to meet that expected to be imposed by the Metropolitan Water District.

Anaheim purchases about 30% of its water from MWD and pumps about 70% from underground wells.