The following is a letter that we are sending to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, which is also the Board of Directors for Malibu’s water district. We encourage you to write your own letters and go to the hearing on May 26, where they will adopt a new water conservation plan that will probably increase your water rates. The hearing starts at 1 p.m. at the Kenneth Hahn County offices, 500 West Temple, Los Angeles.
Dear Los Angeles Board of Supervisors,
As elected representatives of the City of Malibu, we are very concerned about the County’s plan for our water provider, Water District 29 (WD29.) We are experiencing a drought unlike any in our lifetime, and we want to ensure that our water providers are acting in the best interests of our City and its customers.
As directed by the State Water Board, WD29 must reduce water use in our area by 36 percent. On May 26, as the Board of Directors of WD29, you will be hearing the Draft Phased Water Conservation Plan to achieve this goal. While we don’t have all the information at this time, please take into account our concerns and ideas.
Your goal must be to maximize water use reductions while not penalizing those customers who have already worked hard to cut back on their water usage. Three tiered water use categories indicate that most people have been conserving at the lowest tier but the highest tier has extremely outrageous water waste and is skewing the numbers. Whatever methodology you use to calculate the baseline water use number for this service area, make it fair and equitable for your customers and also end up with a plan that will trigger the largest deductions for the biggest water users.
Three actions can help the District achieve its goals. First, please join us to advocate for a workable and fair conservation plan that would call for extreme cutbacks for the highest water users, moderate cutbacks for the average user and minimal cutbacks for those who already conserve water. There are over 1,200 extreme water users in this service area. Asking them to make drastic cuts (60 percent? 75 percent?) should go a long way toward your mandated 36 percent water use reduction, and bring them more in line with the rest of your customers.
Two other critical points are also in order to meet the state’s water use target this summer in Malibu. WD29 must do its own in-house enforcement for customers who ignore restrictions and not rely solely on Los Angeles County Public Health (which has other urgent enforcement needs.) They need to step up to the plate and be prepared to tag big violators with real fines. Surcharges alone may not result in any measurable reduction for the highest water wasters. Fines and possible water flow restriction devices are necessary when all other attempts at water use reduction fail. And, to be certain whom the biggest violators are, WD29 needs to immediately join the 21st century and install smart meters on the extreme water users that can report daily overuse when these water wasters are not in compliance. These devices could be funded immediately through effective enforcement action and fines.
We are all willing to do our part, but if you want compliance from your customers, you must be realistic and encourage support for compliance, with a fair and equitable plan. Please don’t further punish those that have already worked hard to conserve water in our city.