4 Million LA County Residents Urged to Suspend Outdoor Watering Starting Sept. 6

BURBANK, Calif.—More than 4 million residents in Los Angeles County are being urged to suspend outdoor watering for 15 days—starting Sept. 6—while the Metropolitan Water District repairs a leak in a major delivery pipeline.

The repairs will take place from Sept. 6 through Sept. 20, and will impact the cities of Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena, San Fernando, and Torrance.

Residents in the Central Basin Municipal Water District, Foothill Municipal Water District, Three Valleys Municipal Water District, and West Basin Municipal Water District will also be affected.

The repairs became necessary after officials earlier this year discovered a leak in the 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline that delivers water from the Colorado River to Southern California before the water is treated and distributed throughout L.A. County.

The pipeline has been running at a reduced capacity after a temporary repair while officials designed a more permanent solution.

“The temporary fix we have in place has allowed us to operate the pipeline at a reduced capacity over the summer, but it is not intended to last long-term,” Municipal Water District General Manager Adel Hagekhalil said at a news conference last week at Burbank Water and Power’s Ron E. Davis Eco Campus.

“We cannot delay this repair any further—doing so risks a failure and the potential for an unplanned, emergency situation,” he said.

Residents and businesses throughout the county are being called on to temporarily suspend all outdoor watering, including drip irrigation and hand-watering.

The water company recommends that trees and gardens be pre-watered before the shutdown and maintained using water collected from the sink and shower.

“During this shutdown, we’ll be tapping into a very limited supply of water to deliver to these communities,” Municipal Water District board Chairwoman Gloria Gray said. “So we must eliminate all outdoor water use and do everything else we can to conserve for 15 days. We want to thank residents and businesses in advance for their support and recognizing the water-supply challenges our region faces.”

Officials provided tips to residents prior to the shutdown, including delaying new plantings until after Sept. 20, avoiding fertilizing lawns and plants and turning sprinkler timers off on the evening of Sept. 5.

“This shutdown has been months in the making,” Municipal Water District System Operations Manager Brent Yamasaki said. “Imagine you’ve got a bridge with a pipeline on it, it’s 1,000 feet and it crosses a river. You don’t want to do this in the wintertime when it’s raining. We want to do this now … rest assured we are going to be working 24-7 to get this work done.”

Residents can view a map of affected areas and chart the progress of the repairs at the company’s website. As of the time of the report, 6 percent of the repair have been completed.