A water supply alert was declared by the Metropolitan Water District's board of directors on Tuesday. The MWD is a consortium of 26 cities and water districts that provides drinking water to nearly 18 million people including some in San Diego.
According to today's New York Times:
The district 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.
As part of Tuesday's alert, the board of directors for the water district is urging municipal governments to update their water conservation ordinances, for example by limiting outdoor water use at certain times or encouraging showers of no more than three minutes. At this stage the district itself can only make recommendations, although municipal governments can enforce new ordinances or regulations.
To read the entire New York Times article, click here.
According to today's San Diego Union-Tribune:
Yesterday, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California - the region's largest wholesale supplier of water - called on local water agencies to promote extraordinary conservation measures.
If Metropolitan doesn't get a big enough response - the agency wants a 9 percent reduction next year - it could start limiting the amount of water it gives to member districts, which in turn probably would impose emergency rates.
To read the entire San Diego Union-Tribune article, click here.
