By Hector Gonzalez
Staff Writer

June 10, 2015 -- Santa Monica’s postponed Water User Allowance (WUA) program, which sets thresholds for residential water use and calls for penalties for exceeding their allowances, begins in earnest this week, the head of the City’s sustainability office said.

In a report to the City Council updating Santa Monica’s water shortage response plan, Dean Kubani, director of sustainability and the environment, said officials began implementing the program Monday, with a few new improvements.

Software is being updated to integrate the water use allowances (WUA) into customers’ bills, Kubani said.

“In addition, a new, user-friendly utility bill that clearly summarizes each customer’s water usage and WUA is being developed. Both will be in place by July 2015,” said Kubani.

Under WUA, single family households will be limited to a “water conservation threshold” of  22 hundred cubic feet per billing period and 11 hundred cubic feet per unit per billing period for apartment dwellers and other multi-family water customers, said Kubani.

Customers who meet or use below their water conservation thresholds “will not be required to further reduce their water use,” Kubani said.

Customers who exceed their thresholds, however, could face penalties. The fines are intended to “encourage high water users to cut water use,” not to be punitive or to “burden customers that are making concerted efforts to save water,” said Kubani.

The specific amount of the penalties is being reviewed by staff, said Kubani. Customers will get the equivalent of two billing cycles from when they receive their first WUA “to make necessary water saving changes before penalties begin being issued” in December, he said.

But any penalties will be issued only to customers who exceed their water use allowances “by a significant amount,” he said.

Customers who sincerely try but repeatedly fail to meet their water use allowances can apply for an adjustment for an increase. Next month the City’s Rent Control Board will discuss whether to allow owners of rent-controlled properties to pass WUA penalties on to individual renters, said Kubani.

Criteria for determining when penalties are triggered “will be determined by staff over the next several months,” he added.

“Based on information gathered from the cities of Santa Cruz and Pleasanton regarding their implementation of water allowances, staff is modifying the process for WUA adjustments in order to make them more equitable, effective and manageable,” Kubani said.

“These cities were able to meet their water reduction targets quickly and issued fewer penalties and adjustments with a simple, clear and appropriately timed process.”

Water use allowances for Santa Monica’s 92,470 residents are the latest weapon in an ongoing City effort to reduce overall water consumption by 20 percent by December 2016.

Santa Monica is under a mandate by the state Water Resources Control Board to reduce water consumption by 20 percent by December of next year. In a separate action, the Metropolitan Water District is asking the City to cut back on MWD-supplied water by 14 percent through June 2016, said Kubani.

Letters about the water use allowances started going out to customers this month, but officials also will be placing door-hangers at single-family residences explaining the program and other local responses to the state’s drought, he said.

“To effectively handle inquiries and provide excellent customer service, a comprehensive training program for customer service staff focused on the drought, and WUAs were initiated earlier this month,” said Kubani.