VILLA PARK : New Policies OKd on Water Overuse

Based on recommendations from a citizens committee, the board of the Serrano Irrigation District has adopted new policies concerning excessive water use.

The board adopted most of the recommendations proposed last month by a five-member citizens advisory committee after residents complained that the new water conservation policies were unfair.

Reversing its earlier position, the board approved a recommendation to base future penalties for excessive water use on the amount of water a customer has used in the past, instead of an average amount used by owners of similar-size dwellings.

Residents had complained that the new policy that went into effect on March 1 did not take into account historical consumption. Under that plan, residents who used more than their allotment, based on the size of their property, had to pay $1.44 per 748 gallons.

Because each residence was allotted the same amount of cheap water by lot size, many residents complained that the policy favored owners of small homes and penalized the owners of larger ones.

Dozens protested the policy at the board’s March 12 meeting, some saying that they would have to cut back water use as much as 70%. As a result, the board created the citizens advisory committee.

Since then, District Manager Dave Noyes said, the board has suspended those penalties because the March rains made the penalties unnecessary by dumping more than 2,000 acre-feet of water into the district’s reservoir.

Last Monday, the board agreed that the citizens committee should be reconvened before any such penalties are implemented in the future.

Although the committee also said the drought did not necessitate the March 1 water rate increase from 60 cents per 748 gallons to 72 cents, Noyes said the board decided to maintain the higher rate until March 1, 1992.

The rate hike was necessary, he said, because the district “has to build our water purchase reserves up again in case we have to buy water again next year. Buying water the last two years really knocked water purchase reserves back down.”

Noyes said the board also adopted a 15% voluntary cutback in water use, instead of the 20% recommended by the committee. He also noted that Villa Park residents had reduced water consumption in June by 19.7%.