Water agencies are offering residents and businesses in eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino counties a variety of water-saving options and advice to help them cope with the call for conservation while the region’s major supply pipeline is shut down and repaired.
Beginning next Monday, April 16, up to 1 million consumers in the region are being called upon to suspend outdoor watering and non-essential indoor water use while Metropolitan Water District replaces a weakened section of its 30-mile Rialto Pipeline over nine days.
Specifically, consumers in the cities of La Verne, Claremont, Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland and Fontana are being asked to save water and help stretch local supplies. Residents who want to know more about how the shutdown will affect them should contact their water provider directly.
While Metropolitan coordinated with Three Valleys Municipal Water District, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and other local retailers to help build up emergency reserves in advance of the shutdown, officials today stressed the importance of everyone in the affected area doing their part to reduce water use during the repair.
"We recognize that it’s time for warm weather and spring planting, but we need everyone to try to use water sparingly during this repair," said Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.
“It’s simple—turn off your automatic sprinklers this Sunday and turn them back on when the repair is finished. We’re calling on everyone to join in and help save water, or we will risk reaching a critical point with our reserves,” Davis said.
In addition to suspending outdoor watering during the repair, consumers are asked to take short showers; not run water while brushing teeth or shaving; and to wash their vehicles at professional car washes that use recycled water rather than at home. (Click here for consumer tips.) For more conservation tips and water-saving rebate information, residents and businesses can visit “www.bewaterwise.com.”
“Conservation by consumers, combined with water service interconnections between local water agencies, should provide adequate water during the pipeline shutdown,” said Mike Sovich, assistant general manager of engineering and operations for Three Valleys Municipal Water District.
“Conservation, however, is the key element,” Sovich stressed.
Debra C. Man, Metropolitan Water District’s chief operating officer, said the district is doing everything it can to complete the pipeline repairs with as little impact on consumers as possible.
“Leading up to this shutdown, we’ve worked closely with all of the local agencies and cities, and walked door-to-door in affected neighborhoods to inform residents about the repairs,” Man said.
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.
Recent results from a February inspection and test of the Rialto Pipeline indicated broken wires within a weakened pipeline section along Amethyst Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga. During the shutdown, scheduled to last through Tuesday, April 24, Metropolitan plans to replace a 20-foot section of pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe with welded steel pipe.
The 30-mile Rialto Pipeline extends from the Devil Canyon Power Plant north of San Bernardino to Metropolitan’s San Dimas Power Plant, delivering up to 450,000 gallons of imported water a minute for about 6 million total residents.
The pipeline is the only source of supplemental water for communities served by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, which relies on Metropolitan water for about 30 percent of its water supply needs. Three Valleys, which uses Metropolitan water for up to 60 percent of its needs, has the ability to receive imported water through an alternate MWD pipeline.