Ramona Water Rules May Stiffen : Drought: Officials are considering a tough new round of mandatory restrictions to cope with the shortage.

The water shortage that threatens to change the way Southern Californians live has already had a dramatic impact on residents in the Ramona Water District, where authorities are considering a tough new round of mandatory rules that would add to restrictions created last summer.

Although conservation ordinances are at the voluntary stage in most of San Diego County, Ramona last May became the first water district in the county to enforce widespread mandatory conservation. By late last summer, the district had warned 200 residents and businesses that they were not in compliance, and a handful still face possible criminal or civil prosecution.

This summer, the 33,000 residents served by the agency will be prohibited from washing down driveways, watering their lawns or filling swimming pools during daylight hours. District officials are asking residents to delay new landscaping this spring, or to at least use only drought-resistant plants. They are also considering several other water-cutting measures.

Officials throughout the county are monitoring Ramona’s situation to learn whether mandatory water conservation can cut demand. The San Diego County Water Authority, which distributes 93% of the drinkable water delivered to the county’s residents, industries and farms, is also watching.

The Water Authority has no power to enforce mandatory conservation, but it has developed a model ordinance that water departments in Ramona, San Diego and other cities have begun to adopt.

The Water Authority historically has met the county’s demand by purchasing water the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District imports from Northern California and the Colorado River.

In recent years, the agency has drawn up to 30% of the water the MWD has imported from the Colorado, even though the county has a legal right to just 11% of it. The imbalance hasn’t mattered in past years because the MWD has imported far more water than it needed, largely because Arizona was not drawing its legal share and Los Angeles was meeting its demand by drawing from Mono Lake.

But the widespread drought has increased Southern California’s demand for water, the courts have limited Los Angeles’ access to Mono Lake and Arizona is now consuming more water. Consequently, water officials in San Diego County are “waiting to see what MWD does this summer,” Water Authority spokesman Mark Stadler said.

In recent years, the Water Authority has addressed the drought by trying to slow the steadily increasing per-capita demand for water.

During 1989, it sold 574,780 acre-feet of water to its 24 member agencies, including San Diego, Del Mar, National City, Oceanside, Poway and Escondido, 11 municipal water districts and several rural districts. Local water sources, including reservoirs and wells, accounted for 51,722 acre-feet of water, and the remainder was imported through the MWD.

Although voluntary conservation programs might help the rest of San Diego County survive the drought, Ramona will probably continue mandatory programs until rainfall restores water levels in nearby Lake Sutherland, which accounts for 30% of Ramona’s supply. The district has stopped drawing water from the lake, which is now at 3% of capacity. The remaining supply serves as a two-week emergency supply.

“The message we’re getting from (water suppliers) is that, barring . . . a lot more rainfall, there’s going to be a definite (summer) shortage,” said Wes Peltzer, a San Marcos attorney who represents Ramona and several other water districts. “It looks like all districts are going to become much more oriented toward enforcement programs.”

The Ramona district last summer issued 200 warning letters to offenders who, for the most part, were illegally watering their lawns or hosing down driveways. Most of the scofflaws came into line after receiving warning letters, and only half a dozen of the district’s 8,300 customers now face possible criminal or civil charges, Peltzer said.

“Most of the community has been awfully good about it,” Peltzer said. “Considering the number of customers, six or seven is not a lot. People should be able to recognize that this is in their own best interest, because the situation is going to get a lot worse.”

With the drought continuing, however, there is a “good possibility” that Ramona will this month move into a third, more-restrictive phase, according to district spokeswoman Becky Coates. Phase 1 was a voluntary version of Phase 2, which prohibited driveway hosing, restricted sprinkler use and required restaurants to serve water only on request. In the third phase, the district would cut back on the hours and days residents can water lawns, and, in large part, prohibit new water hookups, which would affect construction.

“This would be a tough situation,” Water Authority conservation expert Bill Jacoby said.

While Ramona’s water shortage is severe, it has not reached the point where more dramatic levels of control are being considered.

However, a fourth level of the Ramona ordinance--and most other ordinances in the county--would, if mandated, limit water use “pretty much to health and sanitation,” Jacoby said. Irrigation of outside vegetation would be prohibited, as would be the filling of swimming pools.

Manufacturing and commercial water users would be cut back by 50%, and “people would be losing jobs,” Jacoby said. “That’s not something we want to get into.”

Water officials believe there are other, interim steps that could be taken before the Draconian measures of the fourth stage.

The Ramona district’s board of directors met last week to consider a two-tiered billing system that would penalize customers who use too much water.

Peltzer is studying ordinances from other parts of the country that include even stiffer penalties for repeat offenders, a tactic that might work with upscale residents who don’t worry about higher bills.

He is also considering a mechanism to deal with repeat offenders.

“One approach is to have a provision whereby if they violate the ordinance a certain number of times, their service is shut off, Peltzer said. “That’s an effective enforcement mechanism, but it has to be done with care.”

Care seems to be the operative word in water conservation.

San Diego adopted its first conservation ordinance in 1987, but the city prefers to deal with water abusers on a more informal basis, according to Marsi Steirer, a water conservation analyst with the city.

To be sure, San Diego’s ordinance includes fines, but Steirer and other water officials believe compliance is largely driven by peer pressure.

“People have to think about the future,” Steirer said. “You could fine people, but I’d prefer that neighbors deal with each other through peer pressure and information.”

Many San Diegans are already concerned about water use and abuse, she said. As many as 150 San Diegans a month call the water department to complain about neighbors who are wasting water, Steirer said. The calls typically deal with neighbors who are needlessly hosing down driveways, or about poorly functioning sprinkler systems.