Malibuites Get Their First Taste of SoCal
Water Conservation Mindset
• Some Wonder If This Is First
Indicator of Drought’s Impact
Communities throughout the Southland are
talking about stringent water conservation measures, but
Malibuites have been relatively immune from what water supply
experts expect to be a long-term shortage.
While other communities talk about
landscape watering restrictions and regulating the washing of
cars, Malibu residents served by the Metropolitan Water
District are facing their first official request to
monitor local usage.
The MWD is requesting that all Malibu
residents conserve water between Saturday, June 21,
and Wednesday, July 2, when the district will be working on a
12-mile-long section of its 96-inch-diameter Sepulveda feeder
line.
MWD says the work can be expected to
affect the water pressure supplied to water distributors,
including Waterworks District No. 29, which services the
Malibu area.
Although the district indicates that it
does not expect customers to experience problems unless the
weather gets hot during the shutdown period, comparable
repairs have created problems in the past.
Preventive maintenance is a top priority
now that California is in the midst of its driest spring on
record. Last week, the governor declared a
drought—the first in nearly 20 years—after two
years of below-average rainfall, low snow-melt runoff and
court-ordered restrictions on water transfers.
The state depends on the winter snowpack in
the Sierra Nevadas for most of its summer water supply. This
March, April and May were the driest months on record. That
does not bode well.
Conditions could be even worse next year if
there is another dry winter. An eight-year drought in the
Southwest means California can’t depend on Colorado
River water to help supply Southern
California. And a
federal court order last year requires that more of that
area’s water remain in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta.
MWD board members have been edging toward a
water-supply alert by encouraging residents and businesses to
start cutting back on usage and asking cities to crack down on
those who don’t.
If not enough water is saved over the next
year, it is anticipated that MWD will consider rationing.
“This is an attempt to stretch out our reserves and
make sure we don’t run them into the ground,”
according to Jeff Kightlinger, MWD’s general
manager.
Kightlinger announced last week that MWD
will bump up its advertising campaign on the need to conserve
water and ask cities to consider adopting ordinances
restricting discretionary water use.
Malibu incorporated in 1991 and got up and
running in 1992, but it did not experience the same brunt of
the water shortage that Southern California felt in the
early 1990s.
In addition to the quantity of local water
supplies, questions are expected to be raised about the quality
of alternate water sources if major adjustments are
required.
For questions about the two-week feeder
line repair period, contact the Los Angeles County Waterworks
District at 310-456-6621.
