As of Sunday, May 3 at 5 p.m., Western Municipal Water District (Western) is continuing to urge all of its Riverside customers to stop outdoor water use as it relates to landscape irrigation, washing cars, filling pools, etc., while a state-operated pipeline undergoes emergency repairs. Essential indoor water service for drinking, bathing, and washing is not affected.
There is a leak on a state-operated pipeline northeast of the Mills Water Treatment Plant, which has restricted water that feeds from Northern California into Western’s drinking water delivery system.
While a timeline for repairs is not yet available, The California Department of Water Resources has crews working around the clock to complete the repairs as quickly as possible. Work will be completed in several phases. Once a temporary solution is in place, Western will be asking customers to continue practicing highly efficient outdoor water use to make sure there is enough regional supply to keep water flowing for essential indoor water use while permanent repairs can be made.
Essential indoor water use for drinking, bathing, and washing is not affected. The emergency repair work and temporary request to stop outdoor water use will not affect the quality of your water.
Over the last 36 hours, customers have sprung into action, and we have saved more than 2 million gallons of water! That is 50,000 bathtubs full of water, which is enough to provide more than 300 homes* with water for essential indoor use.
“We need our customers’ continued cooperation to stop outdoor water use so that our remaining water supplies can meet the essential indoor needs of all of our customers,”said General Manager Craig Miller.
More than 60 percent of each household’s water use is outdoors. Therefore, stopping all outdoor water use provides us the best opportunity to conserve supplies for essential indoor water use such as drinking, bathing, and washing hands. Of course, water for horses and other animals is considered a ‘life and health’ use and customers should continue as they would normally.
During times of emergency repair work or increased usage in the instance of fire flow, our water tanks and reservoirs may get as low as 40 percent of their capacity. When capacity is decreased, the pressure decreases—causing customers to experience low water pressure inside their homes.
Western will continue to work with The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Riverside Public Utilities; and other surrounding water providers to maintain water supply reliability to Western’s Riverside customers during this emergency work.
Updates will continue to be shared via email, social media, and will be available on our website at wmwd.com.
For more information about the emergency work, email us at outreach@wmwd.com or call Western at 951.571.7104. Customers can also sign up for e-mail alerts by visiting our website and clicking, “Notify Me.” For more information about what you can do to save water and be more water-wise, visit www.wmwd.com/Water-Savings.
