An advertising campaign launched today calls for residents and businesses in western Los Angeles and southern Ventura counties to suspend outdoor watering and non-essential indoor water use temporarily while repairs to a large-diameter pipeline continue.

The campaign—initiated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Calleguas Municipal Water District and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District—expands the water-saving call beyond portions of Ventura County to include western Los Angeles County.

“The recent dry, windy and uncommonly cold weather conditions have nearly doubled water demand at a time when demand is typically at its lowest,” said Debra C. Man, Metropolitan’s chief operating officer. “With water supplies stretched thin in the northernmost part of our service area, we need everyone to do their part to save water while important repairs are made to our water system.”

More than 600,000 people reside in the affected areas served by Calleguas and Las Virgenes, including the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Hidden Hills, Moorpark, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, as well as the community of West Hills.

Beginning this morning (Friday), radio advertisements, primarily during traffic reports, can be heard on 14 radio stations in English and Spanish through the end of the shutdown on Jan. 27.  The water-saving message also will be delivered in print advertisements.

Don Kendall, Calleguas general manager, said conservation by consumers and businesses is essential to help sustain water supplies during the shutdown.

“The unusually high water demand is coming from our municipal customers, not from agriculture,” Kendall said.  “These are critical repairs that need to be made, and every single person can make a difference.”
Residents and businesses are asked to stop watering landscapes, plants and trees, hand-washing vehicles, and refrain from filling swimming pools or spas and hosing down driveways until the repairs are made to Metropolitan’s Foothill Feeder pipeline.  The 20-foot-diameter pipeline stretches 13 miles from Lake Castaic to Metropolitan’s Joseph Jensen Water Treatment Plant in Granada Hills, delivering supplies originating in Northern California.

Other water-saving measures include running only full loads of clothes washers and dishwashers, keeping showers to 10 minutes or less, and not leaving the water running when brushing your teeth or shaving.  The advertisements point out that more tips can be found at “www.bewaterwise.com.”

In response to the high demand and local agency concerns, Metropolitan postponed some Jensen plant upgrades to greatly reduce the time the plant would be out of service.  Metropolitan crews worked around the clock earlier this week to complete a portion of the scheduled work and put the plant back into operation nearly eight days ahead of schedule.  With water provided through a connection with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metropolitan began providing limited amounts of treated water to the affected areas, lessening the impacts on residents.

In the meantime, work continues to replace and repair section s of pre-stressed concrete pipe at three locations along the Foothill Feeder.

Metropolitan typically schedules shutdowns of its facilities in the winter months, when temperatures are cooler and demands are lower, to complete inspections and perform maintenance and upgrades with the least impact on consumers, Man said.  However, the unusual spike in local water demands, exacerbated by frigid and dry conditions, has complicated this on-going shutdown, she said.

The call for outdoor conservation is consistent with Metropolitan’s ongoing region-wide public outreach campaign that encourages reductions in outdoor water use through more efficient irrigation and use of native, drought-tolerant plants in landscapes.

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.