San Gabriel Valley Water supplier issuing water conservation kits to residents

MONROVIA, Calif. (KABC) -- Steve Bray lives in Monrovia and is already doing what he can to save water. He has installed Wi-Fi-connected sprinklers.

"It can be controlled by an app, but we can only water once a week so I totally turned off my sprinklers," he said.

The Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District worries state's historic drought will get worse.

"I've seen some droughts, some challenges, never as severe as this one," said General Manager Thomas Love.

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The district gets some of its water from the State Water project. Unfortunately, its allocation of water was cut to 5%.

"January, February, and March normally the wettest months of the year were bone dry," he said.

The district actually captures 100% of rainwater and is able to store it in spreading basins. They use that water during dry years to deliver it into the drinking water system, but it's quickly disappearing.

"That's what we're living on right now is that stored water that we delivered in prior wet years to the ground water basin, but we only have a few more months of that supply left," said Love.

Some cities are adding fines. Bray got a penalty for using too much water, which totaled to $95. As it turns out, he had a water leak and wasn't aware of it.

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"[It was] a leak on the water main going to the back of the house so I looked around for damp dirt, I found it. I found it and dug it up and it has been leaking for a month or two," said Bray.

That's one reason why the water district will now send conservation kits to a number of residents.

It has leak detectors, aerators and low-flow shower heads to help people conserve.

"There's always more we can do and you're right, every drop counts," said Love.