Most Severe Water Rationing Ever Looms : Drought: Proposals being considered call for unprecedented cuts for cities and farms. Officials concede these Draconian measures are meant as attention-getters.

SACRAMENTO —  Water officials warned Monday that drought measures being considered by the State Water Resources Control Board could force city dwellers and farmers to face water rationing on a scale never before contemplated in California.

“It’s quite unusual . . . it’s unprecedented,” said Don Maughan, board chairman.

Among proposals under consideration are limiting household use of water far below normal amounts, particularly for large families, and reducing agricultural water allocations to bare minimums--enough to keep plants and trees alive but in some cases not enough for them to produce crops.

Even in 1977, one of the worst drought years on record, Maughan said, state officials did not impose measures as drastic as those being considered by his board.

When the board rules on water rationing, its authority will be final unless there are successful court appeals.

Maughan said the board would not take action until after the California Department of Water Resources presents an assessment of the state’s water conditions at a two-day public hearing scheduled to begin this morning. He said the four-member board also expects to hear from more than 100 witnesses representing farmers, environmentalists, local water agencies and residential and commercial users.

Maughan said the board is expected to act on the proposals by Feb. 7.

Board member John Caffrey said the hearing would influence which of the proposals the panel adopts.

“There could be any mix of any number of items including the ones on the list and including anything else that people might bring before us,” he said.

In what Maughan conceded was an effort to plant a “bombshell,” the board’s staff has presented a list of 18 proposals for coping with water shortages brought on by a statewide drought in its fifth year.

If adopted, the proposals would dramatically alter the way farmers, city dwellers and businesses use water in California.

Carl Boronkay, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District that serves much of Southern California including Los Angeles, said the proposals would require more severe cuts than those already in effect. The district has ordered an overall 17% reduction in its normal deliveries to its member agencies.

Among the proposals under consideration are plans to limit household use of water to 300 gallons per day. State officials estimate normal use at between 100 and 200 gallons per person per day. MWD figures show that per-capita use of customers living near the coast runs about 110 gallons per day.

For farmers who grow annual crops, the proposals call for the elimination of pre-irrigating, a process that permits the soil to be moistened before planting. For those who maintain orchards and vineyards, the staff proposed “survival allocations” that would provide just enough water to keep the plants and trees alive.

A proposal that the board consider suspending salinity standards for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has drawn criticism from environmental groups, which contend that the suspension could further damage fisheries.

Boronkay predicted that many of the proposals would be modified after the board hears from various water interests throughout the state.

“We have about 2,000 water districts with different weather patterns and different usages and it’s very difficult to make rules that will be equitable to everyone,” he said.

By presenting the drought proposals, he said the state board was apparently trying to “point up the seriousness of this situation and the fact that we are truly close to an outright emergency.”

In the current water year, which began Oct. 1, precipitation has been 28% of normal while the snowpack has less than 30% of its normal water content. Storage in reservoirs, which help carry the state through a drought, is 54% of average and 32% of capacity.

If rain or snowfall is almost continuous in February and March, Maughan said the restrictions could be eased or eliminated. So far, predictions do not call for greater rainfall. The water resources department is predicting that there is less than a 10% chance of having average or better runoff this year.