After Easing Restrictions, Water Board Says Conservation Still Needed

LOS ANGELES, CA - Two days after it ended restricted water deliveries to its member agencies thanks to improved statewide supply, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Thursday began a $2.2 million advertising effort to encourage residents to continue conserving.

"El Nino helped, but after drawing down our reserves the last four years to record low levels, we all must continue using water as wisely as possible to rebuild those reserves and be prepared for what lies ahead," MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said. "Thankfully we'll be getting more water this year from the State Water Project than we have in the past three years. But we need to use those supplies to refill our regional reservoirs and allow our member agencies more flexibility to replenish their aquifers and reserves.

"That means we are still relying on Southern Californians to conserve as they have been," he said. "We need to stop thinking about mandated emergency conservation and shift toward thinking of conservation as a way of life."

The eight-month public outreach campaign will feature radio, print and digital advertising, along with social-media messages, highlighting a message of water conservation. The campaign will build on the agency's "Take a Turn" advertising effort that began last year, featuring images of water faucets, knobs and handles, encouraging people to turn them off.

On Tuesday, the MWD board voted to end a mandatory use-reduction program it imposed on its 26 member agencies to combat the drought. The move ended a mandatory 15 percent cut in the amount of water delivered to agencies. Water companies that exceeded their allotment were charged punitive rates for the excess water.

But while ending that program, the board continued to stress the need for conservation, maintaining a Water Supply Alert that calls for water agencies and customers to continue efforts to reduce their use.

MWD staffers noted that the State Water Project has increased water allocations to 60 percent of requests, its highest level in four years. MWD officials also said the agency plans to add water to its storage systems this year following "three consecutive years of withdrawals."

The district expects to store about 400,000 acre-feet of water this year. An acre-foot is roughly the amount of water needed to serve two households for a year.

On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order to permanently bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hard surfaces; using hoses without shut-off nozzles to wash cars; allowing runoff to occur when watering lawns; and failing to re-circulate fountain water.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock