Mesa district customers can water outdoors 3 days a week, starting Sunday
Mesa Water District customers will be allowed to water their yards up to three days a week starting Sunday, according to district officials.
Once the new schedule goes into effect, the estimated 110,000 Mesa Water customers in Costa Mesa and portions of Newport Beach will be able to water outdoors before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Watering still will not be permitted when it’s raining or for 48 hours afterward.
The new watering schedule will be in place through September, according to district General Manager Paul Shoenberger.
The district’s board voted in February to allow watering on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It also approved allowing up to three watering days a week starting in May to “give customers some certainty,” Shoenberger said.
The relaxed watering restrictions for Mesa Water ratepayers come after the State Water Resources Control Board lowered the district’s water conservation target to 13% from 20%. From June – when California’s water mandates were put in place for agencies statewide – through February, Mesa Water achieved 21.2% cumulative water savings compared with those months in 2013, state data show.
State water officials recently extended restrictions on urban water use through October.
Even with the relaxed conservation target, Mesa Water customers are still encouraged to report water wasters, said district spokeswoman Noelle Collins. They can do so at MesaWater.org or by calling the district’s main office at (949) 631-1200.
