The restrictions are modeled on similar ordinances adopted by other agencies, and come a week after the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced it would cut wholesale water deliveries by 10%, forcing member cities to reduce their own consumption or face expensive penalties.
Glendale imports at least 65% of its water from MWD, and would have to pay roughly $1,500 more per every acre foot of water that it had to buy above its reduced allotment, adding weight to the need to effect real behavioral changes among property owners, utility officials said.
Since the voluntary 10% conservation program was enacted more than a year ago, Glendale has averaged an overall savings of about 4%.
“We are currently in extraordinary times when it comes to water conservation,” Glendale Water & Power General Manager Glenn Steiger said.
But commissioners on Monday expressed concern that some of the provisions meant to push customers into conservation mode may be too harsh, and sought assurances from city officials that tamer options would be explored before a final draft reached the City Council.
Under the proposed rules, customers could appeal their overuse charges, but only after paying a nonrefundable $50 fee.
Officials included the charge as a way to recover the cost for processing the thousands of appeals that are expected to come through the utility during the restrictive period.
Joy Gaines, a conservation and marketing specialist for the utility, said more than 10,000 appeals were filed in the early 1990s, the last time mandatory restrictions went into place.
