April 13--A board committee of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recommended Monday that the water wholesaler cut deliveries to the 26 cities and water districts it serves by 15% this year. It's a plan that, if approved by the full board on Tuesday, would mean higher water costs for areas that don't take significant conservation measures.
The agency's full board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the water rationing plan, which would take effect July 1. The board's vote would mark only the third time in the last 25 years that drought has forced the MWD to reduce deliveries.
Although some committee members pushed for an even steeper reduction in deliveries -- 20% -- others argued that local water agencies needed time to adjust to the cuts.
"That is going to be a real challenge," said Don Calkins, of Anaheim, said of the 15% reduction.
The cut would remain in place for a year, but the board discussion made clear that the agency might reconsider delivery levels if water supply conditions change for the worse.
Although the MWD began the current drought in 2012 with record amounts of water reserves stored in groundwater banks and regional reservoirs, the agency has drawn them down to meet demand. The MWD now has 1.2 million acre-feet of non-emergency storage, compared with 2.7 million acre-feet two years ago. An acre-foot is enough to supply two households for a year.
Reducing wholesale deliveries will help stretch those reserves in case the drought, now in its fourth year, persists for several more years. If parched times extend beyond that, MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said recently, the agency would have to make much more draconian cuts.
The reductions will take the form of allocations for each local district that the MWD supplies with imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River. Districts that need more than their allocation will have to pay punitive surcharges that would make the additional water as much as four times more expensive than the base amount.
The expensive charges are a powerful tool to force conservation, and they could help cities and water districts meet Gov. Jerry Brown's historic demand to reduce urban water usage statewide by 25% compared with 2013 levels.
When the MWD allocated supplies at the end of the last drought in 2009 and 2010, local districts reduced usage so much that none had to buy water at the higher rates. But officials say it may be harder this time to attain the necessary water savings, because many Southland cities have already significantly reduced their use.
Many Southern California cities are members of the MWD including Anaheim, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Fullerton, Glendale, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Ana, Santa Monica and Torrance.
UPDATE
2:38 p.m. Updated with the cities in the MWD.
12:27 p.m.: Updated to include the board committee's recommendation and discussion from the meeting Monday.
This post was originally published at 9:54 a.m.
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