VISTA — April 19, the Vista Irrigation District’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to declare an end to Level 2 conditions and return to Level 1, thanks to improved water supply conditions statewide. The return to Level 1 becomes effective immediately.
- The Level 2 condition included mandatory water use restrictions including limiting landscape watering to three days per week and 10 minutes per sprinkler station. These restrictions are no longer in effect with the return to Level 1. However, mandatory water-use efficiency practices, such as watering landscape in the early morning and evening hours, eliminating run-off, not using water to wash down paved surfaces and repairing leaks in a timely manner, remain in place with the return to Level 1.
- The return to Level 1 does not mean that long-term water supply challenges related to multi-year droughts in California have ended but that the significant rainfall throughout the state and snowfall in northern California this winter improved short-term water supply conditions such that available supplies should be sufficient to meet District’s water demands for the foreseeable future.
- “We want to thank our customers for their water-saving efforts and ask them to continue using water efficiently,” said general manager Brett Hodgkiss. “Continued water wise practices play an essential role in helping us manage our water supplies.”
- The District’s action was taken in response to the Gov. Newsom’s March 24 executive order terminating a requirement that all urban water suppliers implement Level 2 of their Water Shortage Contingency Plans.
- The District declared a Level 2 condition in June 2022, and implemented stricter water-use efficiency practices and water conservation measures, including limiting landscape watering to assigned days per week and limited durations. The District moved to a Water Supply Response Program Level 2 condition consistent with emergency regulations established by the State Water Resources Control Board, as directed by Gov. Newsom’s March 28, 2022 executive order, mandating urban water suppliers enact Level 2 in its Water Shortage Contingency Plans. The State Board’s emergency regulations also prohibited irrigating non-functional turf at commercial, industrial and institutional properties.
For more information on water-use efficiency measures in place during Level 1, visit vidwater.org or call the District at (760) 597-3160. The Vista Irrigation District is a public agency governed by an elected five-member board. The district provides water service to more than 134,000 people in the city of Vista, and portions of San Marcos, Escondido, Oceanside, and unincorporated areas of San Diego County.
