Temporary outdoor watering ban to begin in Pasadena, Altadena

Water users in Pasadena and Altadena are being told to stop all outdoor watering for two weeks starting Thursday.  The ban is needed while the giant Metropolitan Water District upgrades a water treatment plant.

The MWD is shutting down its Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne  for ten days while workers install new filters to disinfect water. Most of the agencies across a six-county region that buy MWD water have enough in reservoirs or alternate supplies that the shutdown won't affect their roughly 19 million users.

But Pasadena Water & Power doesn't have enough storage to cover its 37,000 customers in Pasadena and Altadena while more than half its water supply is offline during the upgrade. The ban on outdoor watering runs through March 10. A few exceptions are permitted to keep food gardens alive and maintain swimming pools at safe levels.

The Foothill Municipal Water District serving the La Cañada and La Crescenta area is also cutting back. The district's customer agencies —Las Flores Water Co.,  Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association and Lincoln Avenue Water Co. — will have watering restrictions through March 10.

Foothill Municipal has about 86,000 customers including Glendale Water and Power, and a few other water retailers, but those users are not affected by the cutback.