MWD Halts Water Conservation Rewards, Reduces Some Prices : Drought: Although dry spell is not over, brimming reservoirs in Southland force board to take actions.

The Metropolitan Water District, unexpectedly faced with brimming reservoirs in the middle of a drought, on Tuesday decided to abandon a multimillion-dollar program of water conservation rewards.

The agency’s Board of Directors also agreed to slash the price of some of the water it sells to member agencies. It plans to quickly sell at bargain rates at least 50,000 acre-feet of water--enough to supply 100,000 families for a year--as a means of lowering levels in its near-capacity reservoirs. The water will be spilled into “spreading grounds” where it will soak through the soil and down to natural aquifers, where it can be stored and retrieved when needed.

Because of its successful conservation programs--including sizeable cash payments to water districts that use less than their allocations--and the unusually cool summer weather, the MWD has more water than it can comfortably hold, officials said.

The MWD’s Lake Mathews reservoir is now at 95.6% of capacity and Lake Skinner is at 96.1% of capacity. The State Water Project’s four major Southern California reservoirs are also near capacity: Castaic is at 92.5%, Perris 94.4%, Pyramid 97% and Silverwood 97.1%.

Officials said they need to make some room in the reservoirs for new deliveries of water from the Colorado River and to accommodate any rainfall.

In an action unrelated to the reservoir surplus, the agency’s directors Tuesday approved an 8% cut in the tax it charges property owners in the 5,200-square-mile district, spread over six Southern California counties. For the fiscal year that began July 1, most property owners will be taxed at $8.90 per $100,000 of assessed value, or about $17.80 on an average $200,000 home. Property owners in some special assessment districts pay higher rates, but all are to be reduced by 8%.

The cut was made possible by an increase in the value of properties in the district during the past year. Property values in the district, which runs from Ventura County to the Mexican border and inland to Riverside, increased 9.3% over the past year to $820.5 billion, MWD officials reported. About 13% of the MWD’s $780-million budget comes from property taxes.

The rest comes from water sales, which in the past several months have slowed to a trickle.

In July the agency sold about 149,000 acre-feet, down from 245,000 acre feet in the same month a year earlier.

The MWD has paid out more than $26 million during the past five months as incentive to agencies which have cut their use. Only one agency--Beverly Hills--has been penalized for using more than its allocation.

The MWD board agreed Tuesday to eliminate the incentive payments as of Oct. 1.

Don Adams, director of resources, said there was an unwritten understanding that the program would end sometime in the fall, but with the high water levels and high cost of incentives, it was decided to formally end the program.

The board also agreed to accelerate its ground water storage program. Normally, the agency sells water for storage at cheaper rates only in winter months, when demand is low. But because of the brimming reservoirs, that program is being implemented immediately for those agencies that have underground storage capacity.

The water is being sold at $130 an acre-foot, down from the normal $222 an acre-foot.

Among the first to purchase the discounted water will be Central Basin Municipal Water District in the San Gabriel Valley and the Municipal Water District of Orange County, according to Adams. He said other agencies, including San Diego County Water Authority, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and Three Valleys Municipal Water District, may also purchase some of the bargain-priced water.

The unusually high reservoir levels do not mean the drought is ending, officials cautioned. The imbalance in supply and demand is temporary, they said. Many of the state’s other reservoirs continue to hold considerably less water than is needed. According to figures compiled by the MWD, the state’s 155 major reservoirs are at just 58% of average capacity.