Efforts to Save Water Evaporating : Conservation: Consumption is still lower than before the drought. But use is creeping up.

In 1991, during the height of California’s worst drought in decades, Ed Elrod let his lawn turn brown and could be found lugging tubs of leftover dishwater and shower water through his Ventura house to irrigate the remains of his garden.

In Simi Valley, County Supervisor Vicki Howard ripped out clumps of sod and uprooted a 20-year-old philodendron in her back yard--all in the name of saving scarce water.

But now, a year and a half after the drought’s end, water use is creeping upward in some areas of the county, and some water-conservation efforts are going down the drain.

“I’ve abandoned a lot of that stuff,” Elrod said, acknowledging that he has stopped recycling the water that is left over after he rinses his dishes and his clothes.

Water use remains far below pre-drought levels, since many drought-spurred improvements such as low-flow shower heads and toilets have had a lasting effect. Elrod’s new house in Santa Paula has the low-flow plumbing, for instance.

And some habits die hard. Elrod said he still takes “Navy showers,” turning off the water between an initial soaking and a final rinse.

“I’m still conscious of the water,” he said.

But local water experts are questioning how long thrifty consumer practices will last.

“There is a drought memory, although it does fade in time,” said Don Kendall, general manager of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which provides water to about 500,000 residents of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Camarillo, Moorpark and unincorporated areas.

Thousand Oaks water-conservation coordinator Paul Swenson said reductions achieved during the drought have been halved. “It’s slowly creeping up,” he said.

During the drought, Swenson said, the city’s water users cut their consumption 30% from the 1989 peak. The reductions were prompted in part by rate structures that made users who exceeded their allocations pay stiff penalties.

Those restrictions, and similar ones in other cities, were lifted with the end of the six-year drought that began in 1986.

Although some cities, including Ventura, retain tiered rate structures to penalize profligates and reward the thrifty, most water-conservation efforts are now essentially voluntary.

“It’s not the real hard-driving conservation program that we had before,” said Shirley Edison, utility billing supervisor for Ventura. “It’s a more relaxed program.”

But Edison said that even the more relaxed program has been successful enough to contribute to a recent Ventura City Council decision to refrain from building a desalination plant.

And last month, the Board of Supervisors killed the countywide water-conservation program after the county’s three water wholesalers withdrew funding for the $65,000-a-year effort.

“I can’t imagine that would have been entertained when we were in the middle of the last drought,” said county planning manager Nancy Settle, who supervised the program.

Officials at the county’s water wholesalers said they will continue the educational activities of the county’s defunct program.

The water districts, along with city governments, mail out newsletters and brochures, print reminders on water bills, sponsor contests in schools and send speakers to community groups. Some cities maintain toilet-rebate programs to encourage residents to buy low-flow toilets to replace ones that can account for 40% of a household’s water use.

City water officials emphasize that they are pleased with how well Ventura County residents have done in conserving water, even after the drought’s end.

“We’re still about 40 to 45% below our normal demands,” said John Johnson, general manager at Casitas Municipal Water District, which delivers water to Ventura and the Ojai Valley. “It’s a little surprising to us.”

Statistics gathered by the now-defunct county conservation program show that the county’s non-agricultural water use remained constant at 161 gallons per day per person for 1991, 1992 and 1993, the most recent year for which numbers are available. That is a 21% reduction from the 205 gallons per day per person rate in 1988 and 1989.

Water use still varies widely from city to city within the county. Moorpark and Thousand Oaks used the most in 1993--223 gallons per day per person. Port Hueneme and the Channel Island Beach area used the least water--107 gallons per person per day. Experts say that climatic differences and lot sizes account for much of the differences.

Oak Park was the worst water recidivist. Its water use jumped from 161 gallons per person per day in 1991 to 205 gallons per person per day in 1993. But that is still far below its 1989 high of 241 gallons per person per day.

The reduction in water use has forced some financial adjustments at the water agencies, some of which make more money when they sell more water.

But water officials said that, for a host of reasons, they hope consumers continue to use less water.

Calleguas’ Kendall said wasting water gives political ammunition to Northern California in the state’s fierce water wars. Calleguas gets its water from Northern California via the state’s central aqueduct.

Besides, he said, conservation just makes good sense. “I call it doing the prudent thing, because water is so expensive to import,” he said. “The bottom line is, we live in a desert. This is a desert.”

Johnson said conservation of water today allows Casitas water district to keep water on hand for the next drought that comes along.

And that makes sense to Ed Elrod. While he has abandoned his most extreme water-saving practices, Elrod said he still keeps a basin in the shower to collect the cold water that streams from his low-flow shower head before the water heats up enough to jump underneath.

“It’s easier to maintain habits than it is to have to relearn them,” Elrod said.