The source of West Palm Beach's drinking water "will probably be exhausted" by March and the city will not be allowed to pull water from its well field in violation of its permit, as it did to weather this year's drought, regional water managers warned the city commission Tuesday.

"I think you need to approach this with the concept that you're facing a significant event and do everything you can and we're going to do everything we can do to help," said Scott Burns, the water shortage incident commander at the South Florida Water Management District. "I think you need to plan on alternatives and that those sources won't be there."

City Utilities Director David Hanks offered alternatives : partnering with Florida Atlantic University on a study to drill horizontal wells; fixing the troubled Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant that's supposed to replenish the city's well field; resurrecting plans to inject water into a well for storage; and extending intake pipes to the deepest sections of Clear Lake, the reservoir that feeds water to the neighboring treatment plant.

But those plans could not be put in place by March, Hanks and Burns said. The only immediate, but short-term, fix would be to pump water from the C-17 Canal that lines Congress Avenue into the M Canal, which feeds Clear Lake.

The district's governing board is set to consider that plan on Thursday. But even if the board approves the plan and the pumps are installed, by March the C-17 Canal would likely be too low to use, Burns explained.

Hanks said the best the city can do is keep water levels as high as possible at its water sources: the Grassy Waters Preserve, Lake Mangonia and Clear Lake . The way to do that: use less water.

"Our best solution is if we can decrease demand on the system," Hanks said.

Tuesday's meeting came a week after Palm Beach County's Water Utilities Department director, Bevin Beaudet, sent district officials an 18-page letter threatening to sue the city if it continued to draw more water from the city's emergency well field than the city's permit allows.

Drawing down the city well field threatens the county's nearby water supply, he wrote.

In August the district cited but did not fine the city for violating its water-use permit by siphoning millions of gallons from the city well field without replenishing more than a fraction of what it was required to.

The permit requires that for every gallon the city draws from the well field, it must give back a gallon of cleansed water from the plant to keep the county's well field from running low.

But the $37 million sewage treatment plant is operating far below capacity and has been shut down for repairs so often that it could not produce enough water to replace the amount the city withdrew from its well.

The district wants to resolve the violation by having the city sign a formal agreement, called a consent order, promising to abide by the permit and find alternative water sources or face fines. The county has offered to sell the city its water at a discounted rate, as it did during the most recent drought.

However, little mention was made of that alternative during Tuesday's meeting. City officials last year estimated the cost of buying enough water from the county to tide the city over during drought could come to $10,000 a day.

Instead, the district's deputy executive director, Bob Brown, told commissioners that the district wants to work with the city to resolve the violation and ensure there is enough water during the upcoming dry season rather than impose fines for the violations.

"We don't come here with a hammer, we come here to work with the city with the understanding that the city is going to work with the district," Brown said. "It's a two-way street."

Staff writer Andrew Abramson contributed to this story.