The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is weighing whether to cut water deliveries more than 10 percent this summer due to the continuing drought, the Southland water importer announced Monday.
Possible water allocation actions range from "zero supply restrictions to possible cutbacks of 5-10 percent or even more," according to the agency.
Potential cuts are based primarily on State Water Project delivery projections from Northern California and on Colorado River deliveries and local supplies.
"We're certainly hopeful the storms that swept through Northern California this weekend will help make a dent in the drought," said MWD general manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. "But should state project supplies not improve substantially, it won't be a matter of if, but how much mandatory water cutbacks will be necessary to meet demands and maintain reasonable reserves."
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Kightlinger said the MWD board of directors is expected to consider possible supply allocations in April. If cutbacks are deemed necessary, they would take effect July 1.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a consortium of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 million people in parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.
The MWD imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to augment local supplies and delivers an average of 1.7 billion gallons of water per day to a 5,200-square-mile service area, according to the agency's website.
