Water use increases; waste reports taken

Nothing irks Yorba Lindans more in this drought than seeing water wasted by negligent use.

Now, anyone observing gutters full of running water, errant sprinklers gushing water onto streets or other profligate acts, can pass on the information to a public agency that promises to “investigate and take action” on each report.

The Yorba Linda Water District – with 24,535 residential and business accounts serving 22 square miles and a 70,000 population – is taking reports of waste at the ylwd.com website.

Residents alerting the district to a wasteful practice need only to cite the address or location of the occurrence, and, if desired, add an explanatory note and/or attach a picture of the problem.

In addition to checking for waste, the district recently implemented the first stage of a water restriction process that calls for a 10 per cent reduction in usage.

After a two-year second stage alert ended in June 2011, local water use rose, from 18,684 acre-feet in 2011-12 to 22,343 in 2013-14. For 2014-15, officials have budgeted for 21,980. One acre-foot is 43,560 cubic feet or 325,853 gallons of water.

Increases are due to an “unusually dry winter and anticipation of a dry and hot summer,” noted the district's 2014-15 budget, which anticipates $937,000 more revenue from water sales. Last year's revenue was $1.5 million more than budgeted.

Depending on the weather, about 60-70 percent of residential water use is for outdoor irrigation. Most residents pay $2.70 per 750 gallons, a monthly $16.77 service charge and a $5.50 sewer fee, since the last of a three-year, phased-in 6.5 percent rate hike July 1.

The district's largest customer is the city, which paid $1.86 million for water 2013-14, up nearly $250,000 from the 2010-11 amount. The second largest customer is the school district, which paid $267,442 last year, down $10,252 from 2010-11, despite the price increases.

One positive note is probable savings by drawing more water from North County groundwater, managed by the Orange County Water District, than buying import water controlled by the Metropolitan Water District, which has a 3.7 percent rate hike set Jan. 1.

A recent annexation put the entire Yorba Linda district service area inside the Orange County district boundaries, so Yorba Linda will be able to pump a larger amount of lower-cost groundwater, once infrastructure is completed over the next three years.

Groundwater costs $294 per acre-foot, while import water costs nearly four times as much. Import supplies – about 40 percent of purchases – consume 67 percent of costs.

Local officials seek voluntary compliance to water restrictions, but penalties are available. A first offense brings a warning, a second a $100 fine, a third a $250 fine and four or more, $500 fines.

Also: “A water-flow restrictor and/or disconnection of service may be imposed at the discretion of the General Manager for willful violations of the ordinance.”