Agency to Weigh Exempting Oxnard From Water Cuts

Calleguas Municipal Water District officials told Oxnard leaders Wednesday night that they would consider the city’s request for a reprieve from a tough water rationing program. But Calleguas officials later said they doubted they would grant the request because of water shortages from the drought.

At a water district meeting Wednesday night, Oxnard officials asked Calleguas to exempt the city from its mandated 30% cut across the board and instead guarantee that its households get a minimum of 80 gallons of water per person per day.

Oxnard and other cities are under a mandate by Calleguas to cut water consumption by 30% to meet reductions imposed on Calleguas by its water provider, the Metropolitan Water District. But Oxnard officials said that such an 30% cut would hit Oxnard households harder than most areas because Oxnard averages more people per household.

But Calleguas Municipal Water District Chairman Pat Miller said the board probably will stick by its plan to conserve water in the fifth year of a drought. “We have considered this before, and we’re just going along with our water supplier,” Miller said after the meeting. “We think it’s a fair and equitable way of distributing water.”

Four of Oxnard’s five council members and a group of city water officials presented their request at a meeting Wednesday of the Calleguas board of directors in Thousand Oaks.

“We are requesting a lifeline allotment,” said Oxnard Public Works Director James Frandsen. “We don’t think other cities are hurting as much as we are.”

Calleguas, the county’s state water supplier, provides about two-thirds of Oxnard’s water, half of the water for Camarillo, three-quarters of the water for Moorpark and all of the water for Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks.

Out of all these cities, Oxnard has by far the lowest per capita use. In 1989, Oxnard averaged about 140 gallons per day per person, compared with about 275 gallons in Thousand Oaks.

As of March, all of these cities fell under a mandate by Calleguas to cut back water use by 20%. In April, the cutbacks requirements were increased to 30%.

However, Calleguas board members said Wednesday that they will probably require only a 20% reduction when they meet next week.

Under Oxnard’s proposed water rationing plan, residents would be limited to 80 gallons per day if water was cut back 20%, and 70 gallons per day if the cutbacks were increased to 30%.

Oxnard Assistant Public Works Director Joe Yurko said the city has not yet received a water bill from Calleguas for the month of March. But he believes that the city fell about 20 acre-feet short of the 20% conservation requirement for the month of March with a voluntary conservation program. One acre-foot of water is about enough to meet yearly needs of two families. The city must pay Calleguas $394 for each acre-foot in excess of its allocation.

Hoping for a reprieve from Calleguas, the council so far has refused to enact a mandatory water rationing plan despite the urging of city water officials and City Manager Vern Hazen. The council is scheduled to consider a mandatory 20% rationing plan Tuesday.

Last week city officials said they might sue Calleguas to make the agency change its allocation system. But after Wednesday’s meeting, they appeared less combative.

“Talk of lawsuits is kind of counterproductive,” said Councilman Manuel Lopez. “A lot can be done through negotiations.”