May 9, 2014
CONSUMERS IN THREE RIVERSIDE COUNTY CITIES ASKED TO IMMEDIATELY
SUSPEND OUTDOOR WATERING DURING TREATMENT PLANT SHUTDOWN
Water deliveries from Metropolitan plant to be halted Friday afternoon to allow
emergency repairs to large-diameter, state-operated pipeline through Sunday evening.
More than 325,000 consumers in the cities of Perris and Moreno Valley as well as portions
of Riverside and nearby communities are being called on to immediately suspend outdoor watering and non-essential indoor water use while a state-operated pipeline undergoes emergency repairs through Sunday evening.
Officials from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Eastern Municipal
Water District and Western Municipal Water District made the water-saving plea today as
Metropolitan prepared to shut down its Henry J. Mills Treatment Plant in Riverside.
Beginning at 2 p.m. today, the plant will be shut down to allow the California Department of
Water Resources to repair a leaking valve along the Santa Ana Valley Pipeline, which delivers
Northern California water from the State Water Project to the Mills plant.
In response to the estimated 52-hour outage, consumers in the two cities, along with a
southwest portion of the city of Riverside, the communities of Orangecrest, Woodcrest, Mission
Grove, Lake Mathews, El Sobrante, Eagle Valley, portions of Mead Valley and March Air Reserve
Base are being asked to urgently save water to stretch local supplies.
In addition, Eastern and Western have asked large landscape customers to cease watering
during the shutdown. These include parks and schools in the affected areas as well as Sunnymead Ranch.
Residents and businesses can visit www.mwdh2o.com and www.bewaterwise.com for
conservation tips and water-saving rebate information as well as www.emwd.org and
www.wmwd.com.
Paul Jones, Eastern MWD’s general manager, said the immediate water-saving actions by
consumers and businesses are essential to ensure that the stored local supplies are sufficient.
“While we have full confidence the state will complete repairs in the time allowed, our emergency
reserves are limited in this portion of our service area. This is a very serious situation, and we must all do our part to ensure these communities continue to have the essential water supply reliability they have come to expect,” Jones said.
“Working together is essential, whether in times of emergency such as this or the current drought
conditions we're also experiencing,” said John Rossi, Western MWD’s general manager.
“In addition to our customers that are directly affected, we encourage all residents in western
Riverside County to curtail outdoor water use as a means of support as water transfers between cities and agencies help tremendously during emergencies,” Rossi said.
Debra C. Man, Metropolitan’s chief operating officer, said DWR reported the valve leak in the
highly pressurized pipeline in the Lytle Creek area of Riverside County earlier this week when the 9- to 10-foot-diameter line was put back into service to make deliveries to the Mills plant. The 28-mile Santa Ana Valley Pipeline extends from DWR’s Devil Canyon Power Plant north of San Bernardino to Lake Perris, the terminal reservoir of the State Water Project’s east branch.
“This is a critical, unplanned repair coming as the temperatures throughout the region are expected to rise. We all need to do our part to reduce water use while the repairs are made,” Man said.
With a capacity of 220 million gallons of water per day, the Mills plant is one of five treatment
facilities operated by Metropolitan and provides drinking water to more than a million consumers in southwest Riverside County served by Eastern and Western.
Man noted that the unplanned Mills plant closure is occurring at the same time the district has shut down another treatment facility, its Joseph Jensen plant in Granada Hills, for drought-related upgrades. The Jensen shutdown, which also is scheduled to extend until Sunday afternoon, has spurred similar water-saving calls to consumers in south Ventura and west Los Angeles counties.
Along with temporarily suspending outdoor watering during the Mills outage, additional
conservation steps include no hand-washing vehicles, filling swimming pools or spas, or hosing down driveways and sidewalks. Other water-saving measures include running only full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, not leaving the tap running when washing dishes, keeping showers to a maximum of 5 minutes, and not leaving the water running while brushing your teeth or shaving.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 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.
