Yorba Linda : Voluntary Water Measures Are OKd

The Yorba Linda Water District board approved voluntary water conservation measures Thursday under which residents will be asked to reduce their water consumption by 18%.

The board held off on making the measures mandatory, hoping that customers will reach conservation goals on their own, without the threat of surcharges on their water bills. Board members are also hoping that the recent rains will help the situation.

“Common sense tells us that the situation is a lot better than it was a month ago,” said Ike Robinson, a spokesman for the Yorba Linda Water District. “But we don’t know for certain how much (better) it is.”

The board’s voluntary plan could change depending upon the whims of the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies the Yorba Linda district with 55% of its water. The Yorba Linda Water District serves about 60,000 residents and businesses in most of Yorba Linda and parts of Placentia, Anaheim, Brea and unincorporated Orange County.

“It’s still important that people conserve water,” Robinson said. “We’d have to have two or three years of normal rainfall to get back to where we were five years ago.”