MWD Board Ends Water Rationing in Southland : Conservation: Action will affect more than 300 communities plus 25 Orange County agencies.

Signaling an end to the longest period of water rationing in local history, Southern California’s biggest water supplier voted Friday to cancel mandatory conservation.

The Metropolitan Water District--which warned that the 6-year-old drought is far from over--announced that recent rains, successful conservation programs and an increased water allocation from the state had left the area with sufficient reserves to make it through the year.

Consequently, officials said, mandatory rationing is not necessary. In its place, the MWD board called for a voluntary 10% cutback beginning Wednesday by the 27 smaller agencies that buy water wholesale from the MWD, which serves six counties in Southern California.

The vote, taken as another rainy day soaked the Southland, is expected to prompt a ripple effect in the more than 300 communities from Ventura County to the Mexican border included in the MWD’s territory, including 25 agencies in Orange County.

In essence, the MWD’s action will free up more water for its institutional customers, allowing them to ease restrictions on consumers.

The MWD’s turnaround comes after one of California’s wettest spells in years. Figures show that statewide precipitation is about 85% of normal, compared to 35% of normal at this time last year. Runoff from winter storms in the Sierra Nevada--the chief source of Southern California’s water--is at 40% of normal, compared to last year’s 15%.

February’s storms carried so much water that rainfall in some Southern California counties totaled more than 100% of normal, prompting Santa Barbara to declare an end to the drought this month.

Faced with improving conditions, the MWD announced more than two weeks ago that it will make more water available to its customers. On Friday, the huge water agency decided to loosen things up even more.

More than 200 cities, including Los Angeles, have adopted some mandatory rationing rules during the past two years. While some have lifted water restrictions, most have conservation programs in effect.

In Orange County, Irvine Ranch Water District General Manager Ronald Young called the MWD decision “the beginning of welcome relief.”

Young said his agency probably will act at its April meeting to scale back a program that has required people to cut water use by 20%.

Irvine’s conservation measures have included penalties for consumers who use more than the two-year average for their type of residence, Young said. Those who have stayed within the limit have been charged 53 cents per cubic foot. Those exceeding the limit are charged up to $4.24 per 100 cubic feet, he said.

“It worked very well. We received tremendous compliance.”

In March the Irvine Ranch Water District, which serves about 130,000 people in and around the city, recorded a 30% savings compared to the prior two years’ use, he said.

In Fullerton, where the municipally operated water district buys only 30% of its water from the MWD, officials will have to decide whether to continue sanctions on customers who use too much water or to make their curtailment program voluntary, said Larry Sears, water system engineer.

“We certainly don’t want to send a message that we want water wasting to return,” Sears said. “But we don’t think most people would do that anyway.”

Sears said it is more likely than not that the 117,000 Fullerton city water customers will see the current curtailment program made voluntary.

And in Anaheim, where the municipal water district serves more than 250,000 residents and 30 million tourists and business visitors annually, officials already voted last week to reduce their water conservation goal from 15% to 10%.

Whether Anaheim’s public utilities board will further ease conservation measures was unknown Friday, said Suzi Brown, Anaheim spokeswoman.

“With normal rainfall, the city needs to conserve 10% to 15% over the next 20 years to accommodate growth,” Brown said. “Our conservation program costs us less than buying from MWD as their prices rise.”

In Los Angeles, City Council members predicted that the move would encourage an easing of restrictions for residents who have spent the past year grousing about short showers and brown lawns.

“I think there’s no question we’re going to roll back (mandatory rationing) in some form,” said Los Angeles Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who added that the council is to vote Tuesday on whether to ease its 15% cutbacks.

“It’s difficult for us to charge penalties for water when we’ve had so much rain,” she said. “As I talk to people, they’re asking: ‘When are we going to get off this rationing kick?’ ”

But she said some council members--herself included--remain reluctant to do away with penalties, fearing that such a move might encourage a return to water-guzzling habits.

At least one MWD board member shared those concerns.

“We don’t want the public to think they can go back to their former ways, because in the long term we don’t have enough water,” said Christine Reed, Santa Monica’s representative to the MWD.

“Water is available right now, this year, so we’re going to sell it,” Reed said. “But we can’t promise anyone that this quantity of water will be available next year.

Other officials said the decision was necessary if local water officials are to maintain credibility with the public. It has been 14 months since the MWD imposed mandatory conservation on its customers, enforcing the restrictions with fines that tripled the normal charge for water.

“The point we made to the board was that the public has been very responsive, and we need to play square with them,” said MWD Assistant General Manager Duane Georgeson.

Easing restrictions, he said, will build public trust “so that when we get a shortage in the future, hopefully we’ll get the same level of cooperation we did this time.”

Friday’s vote followed the second increase in a month in allocations from the state, which at the beginning of the month had been limiting deliveries to 20% of water requested.

That proportion was bumped early this month to 35%, and then to 45% last Friday. State officials cited continued improvement in rainfall and reservoir storage levels in Northern California.

Water officials warned that the drought is not over yet. In the Sierra Nevada, the source of most water used in Southern California, precipitation is still 30% below normal, and reservoir storage statewide is only 65% of capacity. Still, both percentages show an improvement over recent years.

Staff writer Mark Landsbaum contributed to this story.