California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) extended their declaration of a Water Shortage Emergency Condition and elevated the Agency’s Water Shortage Contingency Plan to a Level 6 during a board meeting earlier this month. IEUA’s implementation of the Water Shortage Contingency Plan Level 6 is intended to urge all retail agencies within the IEUA service area to reduce imported water usage by a minimum of 50%.
IEUA made the declaration in response to an initial State Water Project (SWP) allocation of only 5% of requested supplies for 2023 by the California Department of Water Resources, and subsequent action taken by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to extend the imported water allocation to IEUA and the other SWP-Dependent areas.
According to IEUA, an initial SWP allocation of only 5% of requested supplies, will mean the region will continue to experience reductions in the availability of imported water supplies compared to 2022 which was already a challenging year.
“IEUA has been working closely with MWD and our retail agencies to assess and understand our imported water supply constraints for the next year and how that will impact our region,” stated IEUA Board President Steve Elie. “Given the severity of the current drought and future challenges with our water supply in California, it is critically important that we come together to develop local solutions, such as increasing the capacity and ability to develop recycled water. As a leader in water recycling, IEUA is planning and looking forward to the implementation of the Chino Basin Program (CBP) which will develop new, advanced treated recycled water supplies designed to further enhance local water supply reliability.”
