1 million Inland Empire residents urged to reduce water use due to pipeline repair

RIALTO, Calif. (KABC) -- A major pipeline repair begins Monday in the Inland Empire, and about a million residents are urged to cut back their water usage.

The Rialto Pipeline between San Bernardino and La Verne delivers water from the California aqueduct to nine cities in the Inland Valley area that stretch from La Verne to Fontana and as far south as Chino Hills.

The cities asked to reduce their water use include La Verne, Fontana, Montclair, Claremont, Upland, Chino Hills, Chino, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga. People living in these areas are asked to contact their local water supplier to find out about water-use restrictions.

Residents are already being urged to eliminate outdoor watering, cut down shower times to five minutes and wash dishes and clothes only with full loads.

The cutback is expected to last until April 28.

In the meantime, residents in the affected cities will have to rely on their own local water supply.

"We're asking all of our residents to rise to the challenge during this temporary, six-day shutdown and make an extra effort to limit their water use," said Halla Razak, general manager of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, in a statement. "With the potential of warmer spring weather, in order to ensure water is available during this critical repair work, we are recommending cutting back significantly on all outdoor watering."

The problem was first identified in January, giving officials a short time period to prepare for the outage; most shutdowns are scheduled at least a year in advance.

People can visit bewaterwise.com for water-saving tips and periodic updates will be posted on mwdh2o.com.