SCV Water Board Votes to Ramp Up Water Restrictions as Severe Drought Intensifies by Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency Apr 29, 2022 Member Submitted News SANTA CLARITA – SCV Water’s Board of Directors voted Tuesday to move the Agency into Stage 2 of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan. The move comes as California and the Santa Clarita Valley continue to face a severe drought with no end in sight. “Despite planning for dry times, this drought has become so severe that we are having to dip into our banked water supplies,” said SCV Water’s General Manager Matt Stone. “Moving to Stage 2 will place new water restrictions in place to eliminate water waste and ensure we have enough water to meet the needs of our community.” Stage 2 Explained Stage 2 includes the same restrictions as Stage 1 and adds additional water savings measures. Customers are requested to voluntarily reduce their water by up to 20%. This information is available at DroughtReadySCV.com. New watering requirements effective with Stage 2 include: • Limits watering to three days per week o Odd addresses (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) o Even addresses. (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) o No watering on Saturdays • Limits watering station run times o Maximum of two five-minute cycles per station per watering day (10 minutes max.) • Watering times of day (morning and evening watering) o May to October: 12 midnight to 9 a.m. and/or 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. o November to April: 12 midnight to 10 a.m. and/or 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. The following actions are also prohibited, as established in Phase 1, declared in November 2021. • Allowing runoff onto non-irrigated areas when irrigating with potable (drinking) water • Using hoses with no shutoff nozzles to wash cars • Using potable water to wash sidewalks, driveways and hardscapes • Irrigating outdoors during and within 48 hours following precipitation of a quarter inch or more • The irrigation with potable water of ornamental turf on public street medians Rebates and resources available SCV Water offers many financial rebates and other incentives to help customers increase water-use efficiency, including: • Turf conversion rebates • Irrigation system efficiency upgrade rebates (smart irrigation controllers, high-efficiency sprinkler nozzles, pressure regulating devices, drip irrigation and more) • Free Home Drought-Ready Check-Ups • Online WaterSMART Workshop, gardening classes and other resources A quick 10-minute inspection of the sprinkler system can save considerable water. For homes businesses, and landscapes, set timers to meet the new watering days and duration and repair any leaks or overspray. Then inside, check for leaks in toilets and other fixtures. Learn more about rebates at https://yourscvwater.com/save-water-money/#_rebates. Learn more SCV Water is hosting a Virtual Drought Forum on May 10 at 6 p.m., where attendees will hear from the experts about drought status, water supply, and conservation measures, as well as be able to ask us questions. Customers can register for the Virtual Drought Forum at bit.ly/2022VirtualDroughtForum. Customers can also report suspected water waste at www.DroughtReadySCV.com. Neighboring agencies announce more stringent measures Also, this week, Metropolitan Water District announced a Water Shortage Emergency for 6 million customers, cutting watering to one day a week. This does not affect SCV Water customers. Those affected customers are served by a higher proportion of imported state water, which has been drastically impacted by three consecutive years of drought conditions. SCV Water also relies on this source for a portion of its supply, but in addition has local groundwater and banked water supply stored underground in Kern County in wet years. Still, as the drought enters its third year, we are also asking our customers to conserve so we will have flexibility to meet demand should the drought continue. Every drop saved this year is one we can use next year. ###
