City Calls for More Conservation as Ground-Water Rights Are Cut 27% : Drought: Next billing period will impose stiff penalties on municipal system users who do not abide by recently enacted rationing plan to cut their consumption by 25%.

Whittier is urging local residents, businesses and industries to step up water conservation efforts because its wells are running low in the sixth year of drought.

Other Southeast-area cities that have plentiful ground-water rights are still in good shape. The huge natural reservoir under the Southeast area is nearly full and cities such as Pico Rivera and Downey face no drought-related cutbacks of ground water.

While Whittier’s municipal system also has substantial water rights, it draws most of its water from an aquifer under the San Gabriel Valley, where the drought recently pushed down reserves to the lowest level ever.

As a result, San Gabriel Valley water officials have reduced by about 27% the water-pumping rights Whittier would receive in a non-drought year.

If Whittier pumps more than its share, it must pay about $200 an acre foot for the additional water instead of the $18 it usually pays. An acre foot of water is the amount used in a year by two average families.

In turn, the city recently enacted a rationing plan and on Thursday will begin sending out bills that include penalties for customers who did not cut back water use by 25% compared to last year. The city charges its customers two to three times the standard rate for the excess water they use.

The city’s Water Department serves about 11,200 homes and businesses in the western half of Whittier. Independent water companies serve the remainder.

City officials fear their ability to pump inexpensive ground water could be further limited if the drought continues. The city would then be forced to pass on even higher water costs to its customers.

“We’re hoping the new rates will motivate people to conserve,” said Ann-Marie Hayashi, Whittier’s assistant director of public services. “We’re trying to look out for the customer and prevent a future hit.”

Most municipal water departments and independent water companies in the Southeast area pump ground water and also buy water from the Metropolitan Water District, which imports from Northern California and the Colorado River.

For months, water departments and companies that buy MWD water have faced penalties for using too much MWD water.

But the Whittier Water Department does not face those penalties because it relies entirely on ground water. It pumps about 90% of its water from the ground in the San Gabriel Valley and about 10% from Southeast area wells, which are under no drought-related restrictions.

Under normal conditions, the Water Department has rights to more than enough water to meet its needs and carry over a surplus of pumping rights into the next year. Those water rights were established in court decisions.

Usually, the city has rights to about 9,170 acre feet of water a year. But because of the drought, those rights dropped to 8,010 acre feet last year and 6,680 acre feet this year.

Last year, the Whittier Water Department pumped 8,182 acre feet of water.

The restriction on pumping water from the San Gabriel Basin is the toughest ever, said Steve Johnson, an engineer for the San Gabriel Basin watermaster, which regulates the ground-water pumping.

The fees charged to water departments and companies that do not conserve will be used to buy MWD water, which will be allowed to seep into the ground to replenish San Gabriel Valley aquifers, Johnson said.

But Whittier officials hope they will be able to avoid the higher charges through increased conservation and by dipping into unused water rights from last year. But Hayashi said the city would have little or no rights in reserve for the following year.

That could mean a parched Whittier if the drought continues and the San Gabriel Basin watermaster further tightens the spigot.

“There’s always a chance if we have a dry winter,” Johnson said.