Pasadena Imposes Water Restrictions Amid Drought Concerns

PASADENA, CA — The grass in Pasadena may soon look not as green: The City Council on Monday unanimously approved new watering restrictions in response to the worsening drought that has hit California.

Residents will be allowed to water their lawns only twice a week from April to October and once a week from November to March under the new restrictions.

Even-numbered houses will be limited to watering on Mondays and Thursdays; odd-numbered houses will be limited to Tuesdays and Fridays, according to city officials. The restrictions are effective immediately.

The city will rely on voluntary compliance with the new rules and won't enforce them.

Limiting the number of times residents can water their lawns would go a long way to provide relief to the city’s water supply, Pasadena officials said. The goal is to reduce the city’s water consumption by 15 percent.

“We are not looking for lawns to go brown. Often, overwatering occurs when the homeowner does not realize they had a broken sprinkler head or the duration of their watering is too long,” City Manager Steven Mermell said in a statement. “We are hoping to educate customers that outdoor water use makes up more than the majority of an average household’s water use.”

In addition to restricting lawn watering, the city will also prohibit residents from filling or refilling ornamental lakes or ponds unless they're needed to sustain aquatic life, according to a city staff report.

A lack of rain is partly responsible for causing California’s growing drought problems, shrinking water supplies in the northern Sierra Mountains and the Colorado River, the Metropolitan Water District has said. The district imports more than half of Pasadena’s water from these supplies.

The water district was set to declare a "water supply alert" in Southern California and ask residents to voluntarily limit their water usage.