Officials for the agency that delivers drinking and irrigation water to Temecula, Wine Country, De Luz and a small part of Murrieta are scheduled to gather Monday night to consider imposing a moratorium on new water service.

The Rancho California Water District board of directors has scheduled a public hearing for 6 p.m. Monday at the district headquarters, 42135 Winchester Road, Temecula.

With the drought and a court order triggering cuts in Southern California's water supply, Rancho California board member John Hoagland has proposed that the district temporarily stop issuing water meters to new customers and promising to serve new developments.

The proposal is strongly opposed by city and county politicians and business leaders, who say it would cripple the local economy.

The district distributes 75,000 acre-feet of water annually and serves about 120,000 people. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, which would cover a football field a foot deep and is the amount two families use in a year.

Two-thirds of the district's water comes from melting snow in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, while the rest comes from local ground water and Vail Lake. But because the local supply is tapped out, new customers are served exclusively with water that is piped in from far away.