Water Usage Is Up in 3 Areas Despite Efforts to Conserve : Drought: Huntington Park, Montebello and northern Pico Rivera areas increased their consumption in June. Some users will be penalized.

Despite the cooler summer and calls for strict conservation and an overall water-saving trend, three Southeast-area water companies increased the amount of water they passed on to customers last month compared to June, 1990.

The Huntington Park water department was the worst offender, posting nearly a 7% increase in water consumption in June compared to last year, according to figures provided by the Central Basin Municipal Water District and the Central and West Basin Water Replenishment District.

The Huntington Park department, which serves most of the residences and businesses in the city of 56,000, had conserved the previous two months. In April, the city reduced consumption by 16.4% compared to last year, and in May by 10.7%.

Neil Poole, director of field services for Huntington Park, could offer no explanation for the increased consumption.

But Huntington Park officials are hoping that the city’s mandatory conservation program, which requires customers to reduce usage by as much as 25%, will spur customers to conserve more. The first bills with penalties for over-consumption were mailed to the water department customers in June, said City Treasurer Eileen F. Gerardi.

The Pico Water District and the Montebello Land and Water Co. also failed to reduce consumption. Each used about 1% more water in June than in the same month of 1990.

“June was the first month that they had not conserved more than 10%,” said Pico Water General Manager Hal Maupin. “If the trend continues, we will have to go to mandatory conservation.”

Pico Water District had reduced its consumption during each of the previous four months by as much as 44.6%, according to the Central and West Basin Water Replenishment District. The water district, which does not have a mandatory conservation program, has urged its customers to voluntarily reduce their usage by 10%.

Maupin said a local newspaper article touting the district’s conservation figures in past months may have given customers the impression that they didn’t need to conserve as stringently.

The district provides water for about 25,000 people and a number of businesses in northern Pico Rivera.

The general manager of Montebello Land and Water said his company’s consumption figures were higher than normal because the utility had to flush its water lines last month as a maintenance measure.

Montebello Land and Water had conserved water each month since February. Its best month was April, when the water savings was 37.5% compared to April, 1990. The water company, which also has no mandatory rationing program, serves 13,000 people and businesses in central Montebello.

“I expect (water consumption) to go down,” General Manager Bill Smith said. “We’ve been doing pretty good all this year.”

Richard Atwater, general manager of the Central Basin Municipal Water District, said he was not too concerned that several companies did not post savings in June, because the area is conserving overall--about 15% last month compared to June, 1990.

“We ought to politely remind those who aren’t doing their fair share,” Atwater said. “We’d like to encourage everybody--the homeowner, commercial shops and industry--to make a strong conservation effort.”

The city water departments and independent water companies obtain water for their customers primarily from wells and from the Metropolitan Water District, which imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

The Central Basin districts sell the MWD water locally and monitor the amount of ground water pumped throughout the area.

Because the drought is now in its fifth year, regional water officials are still calling for 20% conservation but say the effort so far is cause for optimism. The rains earlier this month could translate into good conservation figures for July.

Atwater noted that some conservation measures are just kicking in. For example, the district in August will start providing $100 rebates to residents and businesses in some areas for each ultra-low-flush toilet that is installed.

In addition, more local cities and water companies have begun requiring customers to reduce water consumption or face penalties.

Customers of municipal water departments and independent water companies in 19 Southeast-area cities are required to cut back water usage by 10% to 20% or face penalties. A mandatory water conservation program also is in effect in Long Beach, where residential customers face penalties if they use more than 325 gallons of water a day. Limits have been placed on Long Beach businesses and industry as well.

Generally, the best conservation results have been recorded in cities with mandatory programs than in those with voluntary efforts.

For each of the last two months, Long Beach has assessed about $600,000 in penalties on sales of about $3 million, said General Manager Dan Davis.

Davis said the penalties have been primarily responsible for prompting customers of the Long Beach Water Department to reduced their consumption by 21% in June compared to June of last year.

“Eighty percent (of the conservation) is due to the mandatory plan,” Davis said.