News of the Arroyo


Title:

Water-waster penalties possible

Subtitle:

Date:

2007-11-15

Summary:

November 15, 2007 - The need for water conservation is being emphasized by local waetr officials.

Author:

Joe Piasecki

Publication:

Pasadena Weekly

Content:

Cut back or else, say Pasadena officials who, like officials in a number of other Southern California cities, are predicting severe water shortages if people don’t comply.

In Pasadena, penalties may be in the offing next year for water wasters. In Azusa, rationing could be ordered if residents don’t cut their water use by 20 percent starting next month

So far this year, Pasadena Water & Power Department customers appear headed toward failure on meeting the city’s voluntary goal of using 10 percent less water than in 2006 — in some months, including August, using even more water than last year, said Shan Kwan, director of the department’s Water Division.

If conditions get much worse, a Pasadena City Council public hearing in December could focus on implementing penalties for excessive water use, said Kwan. “We’re certainly looking into it,” he said of conservation-promoting methods that go beyond asking nicely.

With Pasadena groundwater already depleted to lower-than-normal levels, Kwan is also concerned that the Metropolitan Water District — a regional agency that sells the city more than half its water and in January will be tapping into its own reserves — may move to reduce its supply to city water agencies around the Southland.

A discussion of water shortage plans by Pasadena’s Environmental Advisory Commission was expected to take place Tuesday.

“It’s probably a very serious situation should we not have a very good water yield [read: lots of rain] over the winter,” said commission Chair Carol Carmichael, an environmental scientist at Caltech.

The same record dry conditions that helped fuel recent wildfires have also prompted concerns of a potential water crisis elsewhere.

Glendale Water & Power — which in December will hold a public hearing on rate hikes unrelated to drought conditions — also imports a majority of its water from the MWD. In June, council members there implemented a conservation plan that calls for a 10 percent reduction in water use.

Azusa Light and Water has declared a state of water emergency as local water sources there draw too close to depletion, according to the city’s Web site. Azusa residents are being asked to reduce their water consumption by 20 percent starting in December or possibly face rationing.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who (like Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard) asked for a voluntary 10 percent water-use reduction earlier this year, announced plans Monday to have LA Department of Water and Power employees seek out water wasters and advise them to change their ways.

11-15-07

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