Southern California Edison has filed a letter formally asking the Public Utilities Commission for authority to postpone Stage 3 water rationing on Catalina.
According to Lauren Bartlett, senior project manager for the Media Relations Team at Edison, the letter requesting the rationing delay was filed last Friday.
As previously reported, Edison officials want to defer water rationing because of winter rain forecasts and because the new desalination unit on Pebbly Beach will increase water production.
Southern California Edison has filed a letter formally asking the Public Utilities Commission for authority to postpone Stage 3 water rationing on Catalina.
According to Lauren Bartlett, senior project manager for the Media Relations Team at Edison, the letter requesting the rationing delay was filed last Friday.
As previously reported, Edison officials want to defer water rationing because of winter rain forecasts and because the new desalination unit on Pebbly Beach will increase water production.
According to Ron Hite, Southern California Edison district manager for Catalina, the new desalination plant is expected to be operational in mid- to late November.
Stage 3 rationing would require homes and businesses to reduce water use by as much as 50 percent. On Catalina, Stage 3 becomes mandatory when the water level dips below 200 acre feet. As of Thursday, Oct. 29, the Thompson Reservoir water level measured 211 acre feet. The water level had not changed since the previous week. Catalina has been under Stage 2 (or 25 percent) water rationing since August 2014. According to Edison, in September 2015, water use decreased almost 30 percent from September 2014.