La Crescenta eases up on water restrictions

La Crescenta residents can water their lawns three days a week again after local utility officials eased up on restrictions that were imposed in response to an ongoing drought, while Glendale’s top utility official said he expects to do the same as well as eliminate an added drought charge this summer.

The Crescenta Valley Water District announced this week it was shifting from the orange level of conservation — which capped watering lawns to two days a week — to the yellow level.

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Residents can now water Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., according to water district officials.

Far surpassing conservation standards set by state government as well as higher rain and snowfall in the Sierras played roles in the decision to let residents water lawns an extra day a week, said Tom Love, general manager of the Crescenta Valley Water District.

Last year, the state required La Crescenta to cut its water usage by 18%, and residents surpassed that by limiting usage an average of 26%.

“Our community has responded incredibly well to the call for conservation,” Love said.

Other factors were the installation of a new water well at the former Rockhaven Sanitarium and a larger-than-expected allocation of water from the state to the Metropolitan Water District, from which the Crescenta Valley district purchases water.

The yellow level of watering three days week will likely be in effect for 12 months as conservation requirements at the state level continue, Love said.

“We’re not out of the woods yet … We’re taking one step right now,” he said. “It’s certainly encouraging, but everyone should continue to be conscientious about wasting water.”

Steve Pierce, a La Crescenta resident and president of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, said he doubts he’ll be watering more and that he’s gotten into the habit of turning on his sprinklers once a week.

“We’ve found out that our plants do pretty well with watering less and [conserving] was a good lesson for us all to go through because we learned we don’t need to water as much as we thought,” Pierce said.

Love said he also believes people have, indeed, made conserving water a habit.

Glendale could also see its twice-a-week watering restrictions reduced in a similar manner this summer.

Steve Zurn, general manager of Glendale Water & Power, said he will be taking a proposal to City Council in July to add an extra day per week of watering.

He cited similar reasons as La Crescenta officials did for deciding to ease up on local water restrictions.

Glendale has, on average, surpassed its goal of reducing water usage by 20%, and that target has since been cut to 18% by the state, Zurn said.

“Our residents have done an excellent job in conserving, so we’re passing on this relaxation to them and they can use a little bit more water … It certainly works for us,” he said.

Zurn said he’ll also be pitching the idea of eliminating the drought charge, which was added on last year for utility customers because revenues to maintain water-delivery systems dropped as conservation rose.

The drought rate is 75 cents per hundred cubic feet of water or 748 gallons and adds about $14 to a typical single-family customer’s utility bill each month.

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Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com

Twitter: @ArinMikailian

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