Plan to Ease Drought Restrictions Welcomed : Water: East county residential users would face a 10% cutback instead of 20%, farmers a 30% reduction rather than 50%.

Water officials in eastern Ventura County welcomed a proposal to ease drought restrictions from the area’s chief water supplier, saying it will give residents and farmers more water to battle the heat this summer.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California--which supplies all or some of the water used by Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Oxnard and Camarillo--is expected to reduce its mandatory water cutbacks from 31% to 17% overall. If approved today as expected, the rollbacks would become effective immediately, said MWD spokesman Bob Gomperz.

“It’s great news,” said Jim Hubert, general manager of Calleguas Municipal Water District. Calleguas supplies MWD water to most east county residents and Hubert said the agency plans to pass on any rollbacks to its customers.

“I hope that the rain continues so we can drop back some more,” he said.

The MWD’s action would mean that residential and industrial users would face a 10% cutback instead of 20%, and farmers a 30% reduction rather than 50%. MWD now supplies water through Calleguas to about 450,000 Ventura County residents and about 600 farmers.

Although officials in some cities said they hope that lifting some of the water restrictions would help stabilize water rates, that does not appear to be the case.

MWD officials today are expected to approve a 21% rate increase for its customers. As a result, the annual bills for residents of Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark and surrounding rural areas, who get most of their water from MWD, may go up as much as $50 a year.

Rate increases would be less in Camarillo and Oxnard, where imported water is blended with ground water, water officials said. MWD officials said the revenue generated from the increase in rates will go to pay for more than $6 billion in new reservoirs, treatment plants and pipelines.

The proposal to ease water restrictions is largely due to increased rainfall in Northern California, which provides MWD with most of its water, Gomperz said. Melting snow in the Sierra Nevada has left state reservoirs in the area at 60% to 80% of their normal levels, with more rain expected this month.

“We’re not back to normal, but we’re certainly in better shape than we were last year,” Gomperz said.

As a result of the increased rainfall, the state Department of Water Resources, which diverts Northern California water to Southern California, announced Monday that it will increase its deliveries to MWD by 20% to 35%.

But Gomperz also credited the conservation efforts of MWD’s customers and its member agencies for helping to ease the water restrictions.

“Conservation has enabled us to keep water in our reservoirs to build on,” he said.

Ventura County agricultural officials said that although they support MWD’s action, the agency would have to further reduce its restrictions before farmers see any real benefit. Many avocado and citrus growers in the east county receive as much as 90% of their water from Calleguas, with the remainder coming from ground water.

“Farmers in that area are already looking for alternate sources of water,” said Chris Taylor, president of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. Even with relaxed water restrictions, he said, “it’s still going to be somewhat hard to live by.”

“We’re a pretty reality-oriented bunch,” he said.

But officials in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo and Oxnard welcomed the reduced water restrictions. For the past year, residents in those cities have either paid fines or higher rates for using more water than permitted.

“Obviously, this is good news in that it is an easing of the drought,” said Michael Kleinbrodt, deputy director of public works in Simi Valley. But Kleinbrodt said he hopes water users will realize that “this is just an easing and not a dropping of water restrictions.”

Don Nelson, utilities director for Thousand Oaks, agreed with Kleinbrodt that the proposed restrictions would be a lot easier for residential customers to comply with than the current 20% cutbacks.

“I think 10% can be done with just a common-sense approach to saving water,” he said. “It will certainly make it a lot easier for everyone concerned.”

Gina Manchester, manager of the Camrosa Water District, which supplies eastern Camarillo along with about 200 farmers in the Santa Rosa Valley, said that lifting some water restrictions would allow Camrosa to store more water for future use. She said the district is already using new wells to supply its agricultural users with a blend of non-potable water and imported water.

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