MEINERS OAKS : Board Adopts Fines for Water Wasters

For the first time, customers of the Meiners Oaks County Water District will be subject to fines for wasting water when new billing rates and penalties take effect Aug. 1.

“We’ve had some of the lowest water rates throughout the county and Southern California . . . but we can no longer rely on Casitas as a bottomless pit,” district board member Bill Burr said Tuesday when the board raised the rates and adopted an ordinance to restrict water use.

The district, which pumps water from wells in the Ventura River to 1,200 customers in the Meiners Oaks community west of Ojai, relies on backup supplies from the Casitas Municipal Water District. On Aug. 14, the Casitas board will consider adopting an allocation program for 55,000 residents in Ventura, Ojai Valley and the Rincon.

But the Meiners Oaks’ directors said they could not wait for the new Casitas rates and penalties to take effect in January. Burr said the river wells were “on the edge” of being dry in the summer of 1990.

District Manager Ron Singleton said Meiners Oaks customers who average less than 250 gallons of water a day will continue to pay the same $7 monthly rate, but those who use more will pay more. He said some homeowners have been using up to 3,000 gallons a day.

“We needed something with teeth in it,” Singleton said of the ordinance. It forbids such practices as hosing sidewalks, filling ponds or serving water in restaurants without a request. Customers who ignore two written warnings will be fined $100. A fourth violation will be met with a flow-restrictor device and a $100 removal fee, while a fifth violation will result in a $500 fine.