Simi Valley is reconsidering its policy of telling residents which days they can water their lawns.

The City Council originally chose to designate certain days for watering in order to aid enforcement of a water mandate passed in July. That month, Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8, which is headed by the Simi Valley City Council, declared a Level 1 water supply shortage in response to calls for a 15 percent reduction in usage by the district’s water suppliers.

Under the declaration, homeowners who receive water from the city can now irrigate their lawns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April to October. And come Nov. 1, watering would be limited to Monday and Thursday through March.

However, due to concerns expressed by some council members as well as the public, the city is considering deleting reference to specific days of the week in its watering rules.

“Even when we passed this, it just didn’t feel right to be telling our residents when to water,” said Councilmember Steve Sojka at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Sojka is responsible for asking that the new rules be brought back for review.

Sojka asked if there’s a way to monitor a homeowner’s water usage through his or her water bill. He said the city could set up a software program that alerts the city—or even the residents themselves—when households use too much water.

City Manager Mike Sedell said the implementation of such a program, which is similar to one currently being used by the city’s other water purveyor, Golden State Water Company, would be extremely laborintensive.

Councilmember Glen Becerra suggested telling residents how long they could water rather than how often.

“If we do the three days at 15 minutes max, you’re talking a total of 45 minutes per station. Before this went into effect, I was watering my lawn five days a week for five minutes. That’s only 25 minutes,” he said.

“And my lawn was a lot greener then than it is now. Wouldn’t it be better to give a time allotment than a day allotment?”

Sedell said there’s no “magic answer” when it comes to water conservation rules.

Still, there’s some concern that if the city strays too far from Metropolitan Water District’s model ordinance, which the city’s water conservation ordinance is based upon, it could become ineligible for grant programs.

The council did not come to a conclusion about the issue on Monday but instead opted to bring back the item for further discussion at the next council meeting, Mon., Sept. 21 at 6:30 p.m.

Council members agreed that its goal is to meet the water district’s requirements while still giving residents the ability to manage their water use and conservation efforts themselves, even if it means relying on an honor system.