Mesa Water District considers limiting outdoor watering to 1 day a week

Nov. 6, 2015 5:22 PM PT

The Mesa Water District will be considering new water-saving measures during a board meeting Thursday.

The district currently allows outdoor watering on Tuesdays and Saturday, but officials are considering cutting back to one day in response to continuing drought conditions in the region.

Should Mesa Water’s board approve new restrictions, officials there hope the limitations will help the district better achieve its 20% state-mandated reduction goal.

In September, Mesa Water failed to meet that goal. The district — which serves 108,000 ratepayers in Costa Mesa, John Wayne Airport and portions of Newport Beach and unincorporated county land — logged a 17.8% cut that month.

October water usage figures were not available.

September was the first month Mesa Water did not exceed or meet its monthly goal. Officials have noted that they are nonetheless on track to meet the district’s cumulative conservation goals.

In May, the board first adopted drought measures that, in addition to limiting outdoor watering to two days a week, also forbade washing down hard or paved surfaces.

The measures were applied to all ratepayers, including public agencies such as the city and Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Thursday’s board meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Mesa Water’s headquarters, 1965 Placentia Ave., Costa Mesa.

Bradley Zint

Bradley Zint left Times Community News in 2018. He was a general assignment reporter for the Daily Pilot, where he worked since 2010. At the Pilot, he also was a copy editor, classical music columnist and reporter covering Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. He previously worked in Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Alaska and Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where he served as editor-in-chief of its campus newspaper, the Daily 49er.