Millions of L.A. County residents and businesses will be asked to completely cut their outdoor water consumption in September as the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) repairs a major pipeline.

A leak was discovered in the pipeline distributing water from the Colorado river into Southern California and will take at least 15 days to repair, from September 6 through September 20.

“We need to make this urgent repair to ensure this infrastructure can continue serving Southern California in the immediate term and for years to come,” Metropolitan Water System Operations Manager Brent Yamasaki said on Monday. “While we do this work, we need people who normally get water from this pipeline to eliminate their outdoor water use to stretch the limited available water supplies. We don’t take this call lightly, but it is what is needed at this time.”

While a temporary repair was made to the pipeline, a full repair will be done, with the pipe being shut off to at least 4 million residents in L.A. County.

mwd water map

Areas of L.A. County affected by the MWD outdoor water cutback. (MWD)

While the city of Los Angeles and several other cities in L.A. County are not affected by the MWD pipeline repair, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena, San Fernando, San Marino and Torrance will be among the major cities being asked to stop outdoor water use.

In preparation for the halt in outdoor water use, the MWD is asking residents to delay planting new plants, shut off sprinkler systems, “deep water” plants and trees on the morning of September 5, which will be the cutoff time.

The MWD also noted that two weeks without water will not “kill your lawn,” but it may begin to show yellow coloring until you return to a regular watering schedule.

“We want to thank residents and businesses in advance for their cooperation while we make this critical repair,” Yamasaki said. “Remember – two weeks without watering will not kill your lawn. You will notice some yellowing, but it will improve once you return to your normal watering schedule.”

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