More Water in Store for Agriculture and 5 Cities : Drought: An official warns that reduction by the MWD in its mandated cutbacks is still not a cure-all.

Thousands of Ventura County residents and farmers will have a little more water available to them this summer because the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California decided Tuesday to reduce mandated water restrictions to all of its customers.

The MWD, which provides all or some of the water used by Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Oxnard and Camarillo, decided to reduce its required cutbacks from 50% to 31% overall.

The decision is retroactive to April 1, when the 50% mandatory reductions went into effect. It means that the five Ventura County cities served by MWD now face a 20% cutback in water supplies instead of 30%, and farmers a 50% reduction rather than 90%.

The easing of the water restrictions is a direct result of last month’s heavy rainfall, which significantly increased the Sierra Nevada snowpack, said Bob Muir, an MWD spokesman.

Melting snow fills the reservoirs of Northern California, which in a normal year provides MWD with more than half of the water supply for 15 million Southern Californians in six counties, including 450,000 residents and 520 farmers in Ventura County.

“March was a very good month for precipitation,” Muir said. “By some, it is being referred to as the miracle month. But it was not the solution to all of our water supply demands. It wasn’t the cure-all. It should be emphasized that 31% is still very significant reductions overall.”

Muir said it will be up to each city and water agency to match the reduced water restrictions.

MWD’s action was welcomed by Ventura County agriculture officials.

“This means a lot to us,” said Don Reeder, manager of Pro-Ag Inc., a Moorpark-based farm management company that handles more than 400 farms. “This should put us back in a livable, workable condition.”

Reeder, who is also president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said the easing of water restrictions could not have come at a better time. He said April is the most important month for growing avocados, which generally require a lot of water.

But he said that because of the heavy rainfall last month, many avocado growers will not have to irrigate this month, and others will only have to irrigate for about a week.

“It gives us some breathing room,” he said.

City officials in Simi Valley and Camarillo, which last month adjusted their water rates to reflect MWD’s 30% cutbacks, said they will follow the lead of the MWD with changes in their water rates.

But Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said his city plans to keep its water conservation ordinance. Approved by the City Council in February, the ordinance prohibits hosing down driveways and other paved surfaces, serving water in restaurants unless requested and watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Penalties include a written warning for the first offense and a $100 fine or more for subsequent violations.

“We still have to conserve,” Stratton said. “There’s still a water shortage. All we’re doing is juggling the cost of water based on availability. I still think there’s a need for something that can at least educate the public about what’s wasteful.”

Camarillo Mayor David Smith said his city also plans to uphold its water conservation ordinance, which is similar to Simi Valley’s.

“No one feels that the water availability problem has ended,” Smith said. “We’re very pleased with the relief; it will be helpful and it will make a difference. But in the foreseeable future we will still need to be concerned with water conservation.”

Officials of the Camrosa Water District, which serves 300 farms east of Camarillo and in the Santa Rosa Valley, said the district will pass on MWD’s reduced restrictions to its customers. Camrosa receives 90% of its water from MWD and the remaining 10% from ground water supplies.

The California Water Service Co. and California American Water Co., which together serve 23,600 residents in Thousand Oaks, will also relax their restrictions. The two private water agencies are supplied by the MWD through the Calleguas Municipal Water District.

The MWD’s action will not affect the 12,800 residents served by Thousand Oaks’ Utilities Department, said Don Nelson, department director. These residents have been subject to 20% cutbacks since February.

Officials in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard, citing dramatic decreases in water use as a result of the rainstorms, last month postponed rationing plans designed to achieve 30% cutbacks.

Meanwhile, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to delay for three weeks the adoption of stricter water rationing measures for 30,000 people and 400 farmers in the Moorpark, Somis and Bell Canyon areas.

The board also voted to put off cuts of 30% for about 480 residents in the Lake Sherwood area.

However, to encourage conservation, the board approved increased water rates for excessive users in the five water districts the board oversees. The rate increases, which vary from 8% for some farmers in Moorpark to 50% for some families in Somis, are based on the average amount of water used by households in each district the previous year.

Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this story.