Public Works Talks Water Conservation

At Thursday's Public Works Commission meeting, Dr. Robert Wunderlich from the Metropolitan Water District discussed at length how Beverly Hills benefits from the district's close management of the city's water supply.

Metropolitan provides supply buffers in preparation for drought years and stores water in times of heavy rain, he said.

"Conservation is a savings," Wunderlich said. When asked by the commission why the cost of water is going up per gallon, he said that overall, consumers' bills should be going down because of water conservation regulations.

In July 2009 the City Council declared "Water Conservation Stage B," mandating all customers to reduce their water usage by 10 percent. The conservation measure also called for scheduled days and times for lawn watering, the repair of water leaks within seven days of notification by the city and increased rates for customers who fail to reduce their usage by 10 percent.

The amount of water surcharge notices has been growing rapidly since the 2009 regulations were established—both from residential and commercial customers. The fines from not following the city's water regulations range from two to several thousand dollars. Irrigation violations alone total some $30,000.

Chair Commissioner Steven Weinglass said that on his own block, he sees constituents water their lawns on incorrect days. After notifying two neighbors that they were not in compliance with city water regulations, he said they claimed to have no idea that they were doing anything wrong.

"We're in a very big adjustment period," Weinglass said. "I would imagine the whole first year's cycle of bills is going to even things out. In a year or so, we shouldn't expect a whole lot of fines."

Commissioner Joe Shooshani suggested increasing fines to the cost of parking tickets or traffic violations so people will get the message to conserve as a community.