Council Moves Roll Out of 1-Day-Per-Week Outdoor Water Rule Earlier, to September

The City Council on Monday authorized Pasadena Water and Power’s request to move up a one-day-per-week outdoor watering schedule from November 1 to September 1 as California contends with unprecedented and worsening drought conditions.

As of September, residents with even-numbered addresses can only water outdoors on Monday while residents with odd-numbered addresses can water every Tuesday.

Meanwhile, it seems unlikely Pasadena will heed the call made Monday by the Metropolitan Water District for a 15-day total suspension of outdoor watering between Sept. 6 and 20 so that the MWD can repair a feeder pipeline.

Officials discovered a leak in the 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline, which delivers water from the Colorado River to Southern California, earlier this year. The pipeline was running at a reduced capacity after a temporary repair while officials designed a more permanent solution.

PWP described the MWD’s request as “voluntary.”

Pasadena would accelerate its move to one-day-a-week from November 1 to September 1 “to help Metropolitan out” and to “kick up numbers in terms of conservation,” PWP Interim General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said

The affected pipeline delivers Colorado River water to MWD’s Weymouth Water Treatment Plant, which serves Pasadena and other downstream agencies.

“During this two-week shutdown period, Metropolitan will not be disrupting deliveries to Pasadena. What is going to be happening is they’re going to have to switch to a more limited supply source — from Colorado River supplies to State Water Project supplies, which are even more limited,” Stacie Takeguchi of PWP said. “It’s even more important for us to save water during that time, which is why we’re trying for this call for action during that time, but physically we will not be limited as far as being cut off from supplies from Metropolitan during that time. ”

All members of the City Council voted in favor of the proposal of PWP except for Councilmember Tyron Hampton, who advocated to implement a level 4 Water Supply Shortage Plan under the Pasadena Municipal Code during the two-week shutdown of the MWD’s Upper Feeder pipeline repair.

Since August of 2021, Pasadena has been implementing conservation actions under Level 2 Water Supply Shortage Plan to establish a voluntary water reduction target of 15%, which aligns with the state’s reduction goal.

The plan restricts outdoor watering to two days per week from April to October and one day per week from November to March.

The City Council also approved PWPs recommendation to implement an additional water conservation measure “enabling the enforcement of state drought conservation emergency regulations, including the recent state emergency regulation prohibiting irrigation of non-functional turf with potable water at commercial, industrial, and institutional sites.”