Some San Diego water officials say they might consider curbing development as water customers say they won’t conserve water as long as development continues

From the North County Times:

At least two water officials said this month that they may consider ways to restrict construction in their districts next year in response to mounting pressure from disgruntled water customers who say they won’t conserve water until new development is curbed.

“There has been a fairly common response to the calls for voluntary conservation, and that has essentially been: ‘Why should we conserve just so you can sell water meters so developers can build new homes?’ ” Valley Center Municipal Water District’s general manager, Gary Arant, said in a Dec. 17 report to the board of directors.

So far, angry customers haven’t banded together in opposition, but Arant and Rainbow Municipal Water District Manager Dave Seymour said this week that their agencies have been bombarded with calls from individuals arguing that it was unfair for districts to issue new meters during drought conditions.

Together, the rural water districts encompass nearly 115,000 unincorporated acres in Valley Center, Bonsall, Rainbow and parts of Fallbrook. Agricultural use accounts for nearly 80 percent of the districts’ total water use. In addition to the mandatory 30 percent cutback in water to agricultural customers beginning Jan. 1, all North County water districts have asked ratepayers to reduce their water use by at least 10 percent voluntarily, meaning shorter showers and limited sprinkler use.

Seymour said the most frequent response he hears from ratepayers being asked to conserve “is along the lines of, ‘Yeah, I’ll start conserving water when you stop issuing new meters.’ And there’s a lot of validity in that statement, but every month you hear about some new large development being approved.”

Still, Seymour said he’s not in favor of halting all development projects. “Development and building is a huge part of our local economy as well, so we don’t want to destroy that, either. Reasonable and responsible growth would be a good place to start,” he said.

To read the full text of this story from the North County Times, click here.

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