Pasadena approves alternating water schedule to address drought

On Monday, the Pasadena City Council unanimously approved the proposal to implement the Level 2 Water Supply Shortage Plan under the Pasadena Municipal Code and to establish a voluntary water reduction target of 15 percent, which aligns with the state’s reduction goal.

As part of the Pasadena Municipal Code, the Level 2 Water Supply Shortage Plan restricts outdoor watering to two days per week from April to October and one day per week from November to March.  

To balance the water demand on the City’s water system and to prevent all properties from watering on the same days, the following alternating watering schedule was approved:

• Even-numbered street addresses are limited to watering only on Mondays and Thursdays;
• Odd-numbered street addresses are limited to watering only on Tuesdays and Fridays.

As the water supply situation throughout the state of California continues to worsen, with less rain forecasted and water sources dwindling, Pasadena is poised to take the necessary steps to preserve its limited water supplies to meet the community’s drinking water needs. In addition to restrictions on watering days, Pasadena has ongoing education and incentive programs to encourage water conservation and is investing in capital projects that will strengthen the city’s water supply and infrastructure.

Approximately 60% of Pasadena’s water comes from imported water sources supplied by the Metropolitan Water District – which declared a Water Supply Alert Tuesday. The move to “alert” status is a call for the region to safeguard storage reserves and for water agencies to do their part to reduce water use.

“We are not looking for lawns to go brown. Often, overwatering occurs when the homeowner does not realize they had a broken sprinkler head or the duration of their watering is too long.  We are hoping to educate customers that outdoor water use makes up more the majority of an average household’s water use. A good amount of water can be saved by replacing leaks, using efficient sprinkler heads, or installing drip irrigation,” said City Manager Steve Mermell. “Having our own water and power utility helps us to understand the community needs.  The city recently introduced the Water Savers Team, which consists of water conservation specialists who visit locations throughout town where there have been reports of water waste and help evaluate households on how they can improve their outdoor watering situation,” Mermell added. In the past three months, the PWP Water Savers have reached more than 3,000 customers.  

In addition to educating customers, Pasadena Water and Power has plans to collaborate with its largest commercial water irrigation customer to determine if an efficient water use plan can be established to help meet the city’s water conservation target.

Learn more and/or for additional water saving tips, visit PWPweb.com/SaveWater.

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