THE TIMES POLL : Rationing, Slow Growth Favored to Offset Drought

Californians regard the drought as the state’s most pressing problem after crime and would accept mandatory water use rules, including a proposal to limit households to 300 gallons a day, according to Times Poll findings released Wednesday.

Yet as reservoirs fall near empty and a dry summer looms, the drought is not viewed as a simple failing of the weather. Four in 10 people blame excessive growth in Southern California for the worsening water shortage, and they feel new population should be discouraged by the government until more sources of water are found.

In a message to state officials, most people also say they oppose building more dams--or risking new damage to the sensitive environments of the Owens Valley, Mono Lake and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta--in order to get that additional water.

Instead, they favor looking outside California for new water, perhaps in the Pacific Northwest, and embracing technology such as desalination and sewage reclamation.

As for water use at home, more than 8 in 10 say they have cut their water use in response to the drought--most commonly by taking shorter showers--and 70% say it would be easy for them to comply if mandatory rationing is imposed.

With modern California itself a creation of massive transfers of water from the green north to the desert south, attitudes about water and the drought are closely tied to where you live.

In Northern California, where strict rationing has been in force in San Francisco and other cities, the drought was mentioned most often by people who were asked to name the top problems facing the state. Six in 10 in the north say there is a serious water shortage in their community, and half say that concerns about water have forced a change in personal lifestyle.

In the arid metropolitan region south of the Tehachapi Mountains, just 42% say the drought is having serious repercussions in their community, and even fewer cite any lifestyle changes. Even so, Southern California ranks the water situation second only to crime and drugs as a major problem.

People in the north also feel more strongly than those in the Southland that mandatory laws will be needed to force water consumers to cut back. However, more than 80% at both ends of the state say that Californians take water for granted.

The clash between north and south is most stark when Los Angeles is compared to the San Francisco Bay Area. In Los Angeles, 36% say the drought is a serious local problem, while in the Bay Area, 63% do. In the Bay Area, 72% say the south should get no new water from the north, compared to 29% who feel that way in Los Angeles.

Support is also stronger in the north for a 300-gallon daily limit on household water use proposed recently by the state Water Resources Control Board. The unprecedented step may be necessary later in the year if the winter, already one of the driest on record, does not end with a flurry of snow and rain, the agency said.

State officials say normal water use runs between 100 and 200 gallons per person per day, depending on whether the climate is hot or moderate. Thus the limit could be easy for small families to meet, but difficult for those with many children at home.

The poll found that the state’s proposal was backed 52% to 34% in the north, 46% to 38% in the south.

Regardless of the region they call home, more than half of those polled say they use less water now than they did a year ago. Both north and south say they take shorter showers, wash cars less often, rarely hose walkways and hold off on watering lawns.

Another simple step suggested by water agencies--putting a brick or other device in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush--is being done by fewer than half. Only 20% say they try to use their indoor waste water on gardens and lawns outside.

With the drought now in its fifth year--the longest sustained dry period in California since the 1930s--people favor by 2 to 1 looking for water in the Pacific Northwest and other wet regions of the continent.

The concept of importing water long distances is being encouraged by Walter Hickel, the new governor of Alaska, who says an undersea pipeline carrying fresh Alaskan water to California is a fine idea. And cities facing emergencies along the Santa Barbara coast are already talking about buying water in British Columbia and ferrying it to Southern California by sea-going tanker.

Given a list of future water sources to pick from, people most often said they prefer using technology such as desalination and intensive cleaning of sewer waste. Both technologies are in only limited use in California, but resistance based on their high cost is easing as the current water shortage grows more intense.

Next in popularity is water conservation in homes and businesses. Building more dams--the traditional strategy for keeping up with population growth in California--ranks third, backed by 26% of poll respondents. A peripheral canal around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a favorite project of Southern California water engineers, had the support of just 10%.

In a separate response, 4 in 10 said that government officials should take steps to slow California’s growth boom--which has pushed the state’s population almost to 30 million--in order to preserve water.

Officials in some drought-stricken areas have stopped issuing building permits to ease the strain on water systems. But the long-standing practice of most water authorities--led by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California--has been to promise an adequate water supply for virtually all growth.

Raising water bills as a temporary means of encouraging conservation in the drought is opposed by 63%. Permanent rate hikes to discourage waste is opposed by 79% of those polled.

The poll also found that the public has not embraced the argument put forth by environmentally minded politicians and activists that agriculture is the biggest waster of water in California. Although farms use most of the water consumed in the state, only 22% said farmers waste their water and just 10% said getting farmers to save water would relieve shortages in the state.

In comparison, the poll found that 57% think homeowners waste water, and 41% believe business wastes water.

The poll, conducted by telephone between Jan. 26 and Jan. 29, surveyed 1,986 Californians. It has a margin of error of three percentage points in either direction. The poll was directed by Assistant Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus.

VIEWS ON THE WATER SHORTAGE

Following are results of a Los Angeles Times Poll of 1,986 Californians taken from Jan. 26-29. What do you think is the most important problem facing California today?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Crime, gangs & drugs 43% 48% 35% Water shortage 36 30 46 Education 20 21 19 The economy 17 17 15 State budget deficit 16 15 18

Do you think mandatory conservation laws are needed, or are voluntary measures enough?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Mandatory 56 50 66 Voluntary 38 43 30 Don’t know 6 7 4

Would you support a water rate increase, either temporary or permanent, to discourage water use?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Support temporary hike 32 31 34 Oppose temporary hike 63 63 61 Support permanent hike 16 16 17 Oppose permanent hike 79 80 77

What do you think is the most important reason for the looming water shortage?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Lack of rain 75 73 77 Excessive growth in Southland 45 49 38 Not enough reservoirs 14 11 18 Waste by agriculture 5 5 6

Should growth in California be discouraged until new water sources are found?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Limit growth 40 41 40 Don’t limit growth 17 17 16 Water is unrelated to growth 36 35 36

What should be the most important future goal to ensure a water supply?

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Desalination and reclamation of waste water 45 48 39 Conservation in homes and business 32 31 34 Build more dams 26 23 31 Slow down growth 22 22 22 Peripheral canal 10 11 9 Make farms use less water 10 10 11

Percent who say they are taking selected water-saving steps.

% STATEWIDE % SOUTH % NORTH Shorter showers 89 89 90 Not hosing sidewalks 76 75 77 Washing car less 74 72 78 Watering lawn less* 61 64 57 Toilet displacement device 45 44 47 Recycling indoor water in the yard 20 17 24

* 28% of respondents say it does not apply.

NOTE: Some categories do not add to 100% due to multiple responses and “don’t know� answers.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times Poll