Violators of the new rules will get a notice to correct the problem within 72 hours.
A second warning would be issued before officials imposed flow restrictors or considered fines, said Christy Scott, a program specialist for Crescenta Valley Water District.
“Our goal is to help people,” she said. “We don’t want to be out there slapping people with fines.”
The decision to move ahead with the more restrictive irrigation measures a full month before the July 1 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California cutback was made to give residents more time to adjust as summer takes hold, water officials said.
It also coincides with the same move by the Foothill Municipal Water District, the water supply intermediary for MWD that supplies up to 50% of Crescenta Valley’s water.
In announcing its own intent to reduce water allotments to member cities, Foothill Municipal Water District Board President Robert Gomperz said his agency was “trying to get a head start on the high water use summer months by urging customers to conserve water, starting immediately.”
Glendale Water & Power, which relies on MWD for imported even more than Crescenta Valley, is in the process of vetting its proposed mandatory water restrictions, which hit a snag last month with Realtors, some residents and other stakeholders who argued they were unfair and too punitive.
Burbank’s City Council recently adopted a six-tiered framework of water restrictions that would be activated according to water supply and drought conditions.
