A major regional water treatment plant serving Los Angeles and Orange counties was back in service today after Metropolitan Water District shut down the plant for five days to prepare for upcoming upgrades.

Consumers in Los Angeles County foothill communities and the San Gabriel, Walnut and Pomona valleys may now return to normal water usage, after being asked by Metropolitan and local water agencies to voluntarily conserve water while the district’s F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne was taken out of service.

The plant, which treats water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River, was shut down early Saturday, Dec. 16.  It was returned to full service early this morning, after work was completed to prepare for upcoming efforts to improve the plant’s water treatment processes and help decrease the need for shutdowns during future construction.

Most local agencies in the Weymouth plant’s service area had groundwater, reservoir supplies and other sources to call upon to meet retail demands during the outage.  However, residents and businesses in the foothill communities of Altadena, La Cañada-Flintridge and La Crescenta as well as the communities of Industry, West Covina, Glendora, Walnut, Rowland Heights, Diamond Bar and San Dimas were called upon to voluntarily reduce their water use during the five-day outage.

Debra C. Man, Metropolitan’s chief operating officer, said the district appreciated consumer efforts that saved water throughout the region and helped maintain adequate supplies during the outage.

Metropolitan routinely schedules shutdowns of its facilities in winter months, when temperatures usually are cooler and demands are lower, to complete inspections and perform maintenance and upgrades with the least impact on consumers, Man said.

The shutdown, the first in 20 years at the Weymouth plant, temporarily affected imported supplies delivered to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the cities of San Marino and Pasadena; Foothill Municipal Water District, Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and Three Valleys Municipal Water District.

           

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage, and other resource-management programs.