If Glendale uses more than its allotment, it will have to pay three times as much for its water, which would translate into higher rates for consumers, said Peter Kavounas, assistant general manager of water services.
To keep the city living within its water allotment, the utility is expected to recommend a 10% mandatory cutback on water use later this month that, if approved by the City Council, would take effect in August.
“The difference is if the city is penalized by the MWD, that will be spread evenly throughout all the customers,” he said. “If we have mandatory conservation and everyone conserves, then the price is skewed more evenly to those who use more water.”
Last June, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an official statewide drought and directed all water agencies to significantly increase water conservation efforts and implement stricter ordinances.
At that time, Glendale Water & Power enacted a 10% voluntary conservation effort, but that has yielded average cutbacks of only 4%, officials said.
If the council approves the mandatory restriction, Glendale customers would be billed at least twice the regular rate for any water used exceeding individually assigned benchmarks, which would be calculated as 10% less than their average consumption in 2006, Kavounas said.
At the Sparr Heights Community Center on Wednesday, utility officials hosted the last of three meetings called for by the City Council in May as a way to gather more public input before making a final decision.
“We want to make sure everyone knows it’s a possibility, and what it would mean to them,” Haroutunian said.
