Nearly 1 million consumers from La Verne to Fontana in the Inland Valley are being asked to reduce their water use—including refraining from outdoor watering—for six days beginning Monday, April 23 as a major imported water pipeline is taken out of service for repairs. The outage is scheduled to last until April 28. View the press release, tips for shutdown and map of areas affected.

Starting in July, Metropolitan's new Landscape Transformation Program will offer a rebate of $1 per square foot of turf removed accessible via bewaterwise.com. The program—to be offered annually—will accept up to $50 million in applications each year. Some of Metropolitan's member agencies also may add incentives on top of the $1 per square foot.

Metropolitan's board also approved a 3 percent rate increase in each of the next two years as part of the agency's biennial budget for fiscal years 2018/19 and 2019/20. The new two-year plan will allow the agency to upgrade parts of the region's water distribution system and increase its investment in conservation. Read the press release and watch a video on the budget.

The annual event will include seminars on the best and most promising ideas and solutions to conserve and protect water supplies, exhibits and the ECO Innovators' Showcase. Spring Green Expo will be at Metropolitan's downtown Los Angeles headquarters from 8:30 a.m. to
1 p.m. on Thursday, April 19. Learn more.

This spring, Metropolitan is partnering with the state's Save Our Water campaign to emphasize that water conservation is a habit. Scheduled to begin April 16, the co-branded advertising campaign includes public radio, traffic, weather and news sponsorships, billboards, movie theaters and social media.

Metropolitan has made efforts to minimize the impact of a major earthquake on the people and businesses within its service area. Metropolitan's Seismic Resilience Strategy is a multi-faceted approach that involves coordination among key functions within Metropolitan as well as formal coordination with the California Department of Water Resources and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and other owners of imported water conveyance systems that cross the Southern San Andreas Fault. Read more.