SB 606 (Hertzberg) and AB 1668 (Friedman) were both recently signed into law by Governor Brown.  As with any major legislation, there are significant numbers of regulations which must be formulated and approved by the implementing agency, in this instance, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).  We are closely monitoring that process as we did with the legislation.

Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD) has been working internally and externally to ensure our ratepayers are not unfairly limited in their ability to use water in the manner of their choosing.  

We believe the State of California should have absolutely no role in telling our customers how much water they can use.  We also believe the State of California should not dictate the types of plants in anybody’s yard or whether you choose to have a spa, swimming pool or both.  We believe that utilizing water to create the Orange County Fire Authority mandated Urban Wildland Interface Zone to protect our community from wildfires is an absolute necessity.  And finally, we believe it is improper for the State of California to restrict the number of showers, baths, flushes of the toilet, or loads of laundry for any of our customers.

Our District is unique in that we re-use virtually all of the water which we serve.  

1) If water is sent down the drain or flushed down the toilet, it travels to the Orange County Sanitation District where it is treated to basic standards.  It is then sent to the Orange County Water District, who purifies the water and then pumps it back into the Santa Ana River basin, where it percolates naturally into the groundwater aquifer which allows us to pump, treat, and serve this water to our customers.

2) If any water runs off into the gutter, it travels to the Santa Ana River basin where it percolates naturally into the groundwater aquifer which allows us to pump, treat and serve this water to our customers.

3) If any water evaporates into the atmosphere, it is eventually returned to our community through rain.

We worked very hard on this legislation to mitigate impacts on the ability of our community to use water in the manner of their choosing, and because of significant investments made by the ratepayers in Orange County, we believe there will be little to no impact to the customers of the YLWD.

If you have any questions, please contact Alison Martin at 717-701-3023 or amartin@ylwd.com.

Download Full FAQ here. 

 Last Update: 6/27/2018