Regulators vote to end water restrictions
Pat Brennan
The Orange County Register
04/12/2011
Southern California's largest water provider voted to lift mandatory restrictions Tuesday, an action made possible, regulators said, by increased supply and decreased consumer use.
The board of the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles said it will restore full delivery of imported water to downstream agencies, including those in Orange County, for the first time in nearly two years.
"We really can't look at customers with a straight face and say, 'Well, you need to be in allocations,' when there's really all this water," said Brett Barbre, who represents north Orange County as well as the Municipal Water District of Orange County on the Metropolitan board.
He and other water officials, however, say consumers should continue using water carefully.
The lifting of restrictions takes effect Wednesday. It allows the district's 26 member agencies, which serve some 19 million people, to buy and store imported water without financial penalties.
Those limits had prompted a number of agencies to impose their own restrictions on consumers.
The Municipal Water District of Orange County, which serves southern Orange County, will consider lifting its own "water supply allocation plan" on April 20 because of Metropolitan's action, said spokeswoman Darcy Burke.
That plan, imposed in July, 2009, placed limits on water supplies to Municipal's member agencies, causing many to restrict consumer use.
The agencies used a variety of approaches, including tiered billing, with bigger users paying higher rates, limiting the times when yards could be watered, and banning driveway car-washing or hosing down the driveway.
Although Municipal helped coordinate the various plans, deciding which local rules to lift will be up to individual agencies, Burke said.
The Orange County Water District, which manages Orange County's deep aquifer, might also allow increased pumping of groundwater by its member agencies, said Adam Hutchinson, director of recharge operations for the district.
