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Metropolitan Board declares water supply alert; asks local water agencies to adopt & enforce water-saving ordinances & restrictions

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 11, 2008 at 7:38 am

From the New York Times:

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California issued a water alert on Tuesday, asking communities to modernize and toughen their water conservation rules. The district, the wholesale supplier of water to urban centers in six counties in Southern California, warned that mandatory rations could go into effect throughout the district next summer if the region’s 19 million or so urban residents did not cut back on water use.

Tuesday’s alert follows the governor’s declaration of a drought last week and is the last step before water rations and fines for noncompliance, said Bob Muir, a spokesman for the water district. In 2009, the district “will assess reserve levels and supply from the Colorado River and the state,” Mr. Muir said. “If dry conditions continue, we could move to rations by next spring.”

In a normal year, California’s water reserves are at 2.2 million acre feet. Last year, the water district pulled half a million acre feet from the reserves, said Jeff Kightlinger, the district’s general manager. Mr. Kightlinger said he expected to match that amount this year if city ordinances and outreach efforts did not reduce demand. That would bring state reserves to emergency levels in the next two years, he said.

Read the full text of this article from the New York Times by clicking here.

From the Daily Breeze:

In El Segundo on Tuesday, South Bay lawmaker Ted Lieu urged residents to conserve whenever possible. Take five-minute showers, opt for a car wash rather than running the hose in the driveway at home and switch to low-flow toilets and showerheads, said Lieu, D-El Segundo.

“It’s incredibly difficult to get people to think about water conservation,” the assemblyman said. “They go home and turn on their faucets and water comes out.”

Making changes this summer could prevent the need for rationing in the future and help control rate increases a couple of years from now, he said. “I encourage all cities to pass ordinances urging residents to start conserving water,” Lieu added.

The same message came just hours later from the MWD’s governing board, which declared a water supply alert within its six-county service area. The agency is urging cities, counties, public water agencies and retailers to conserve, adopt and enforce drought ordinances, accelerate public outreach campaigns and develop new local water supplies.

MWD General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said in a statement that “the need for conservation is very real,” and that consumers “need to realize that water rationing looms should voluntary water-saving efforts not prove enough.”

Read the full text of the coverage from the Daily Breeze by clicking here.

Read the full text of Metropolitan Water District’s press release by clicking here. Brief coverage from the North County Times by clicking here.

June 11, 2008 · Filed Under Drought, Weather & Snowpack, Metropolitan Water District