Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District News Splash – August 2024
On July 11th, Upper San Gabriel Valley MWD (Upper District), in partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), hosted a community briefing in Monrovia. The event featured Board Vice President Dr. Anthony Fellow, Upper District’s General Manager Tom Love, and Liz Crosson, MWD’s Chief Sustainability, Resiliency, and Innovation Officer.
During the briefing, Liz Crosson presented MWD’s Climate Adaptation Master Plan for Water (CAMP4W), highlighting proactive steps towards sustainability in light of recent extreme weather events impacting water reliability. The CAMP4W plan builds upon existing initiatives, considering climate change uncertainties to ensure a secure water future for Southern California. This comprehensive plan will guide future investments and business models, supporting local agencies and communities within the San Gabriel Valley while ensuring long-term water reliability.
The event gathered representatives from Upper District’s member agencies, the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster, and staff from our local elected officials’ offices. They also heard how MWD’s Pure Water SoCal program aligns with the CAMP4W decision-making process. The conversation on CAMP4W will continue with a virtual listening session involving environmental groups on August 13th.
In August 2023, the State Water Resources Control Board released the first draft of the Making California a Way of Life Regulation. This regulation was part of the 2018 legislation that encouraged water agencies to improve water efficiency at the urban water supplier level. The standards and timelines within the draft regulation have been debated and revised multiple times throughout the past year with numerous comment periods. On July 3, 2024, the State Water Board adopted the regulation and plans to finalize the exact language at their August meeting.
Within the regulation, the State Water Board has dictated standards for indoor water use and outdoor water use per household, as well as standards for water loss, commercial properties, and new landscapes at an agency level. These regulations will be enforceable within the next three years and begin to ratchet down from 2027 to 2040. While the regulation will be enforced at an agency level, it can only be achieved with support at the individual customer level. Every water customer will need to practice water efficiency regardless of the local weather or available water resources in order to meet and maintain these standards of water usage. Making sure that water is available for tomorrow’s generation is today’s responsibility and the San Gabriel Valley has been doing a terrific job of being water aware over the past decade. Each local water retailer will begin to provide additional details, programs, and plans for meeting these regulations in the coming year. Upper District has been very vocal in the regulation process and plans to remain an active advocate for the local water retailers to achieve these standards and build water resiliency.

Azusa High School submitted a grant project for a documentary film called “Water’s Journey” which covered the journey of water from the groundwater basin to the tap. The film explained water replenishment, treatment, and preservation through visual arts. The students gathered the information themselves, interviewed representatives of their local water agency, and uncovered the true value of the water that is so easily found by turning on the faucet each day. Upper District would like to say a very special Thank U to Mr. Hague and the Azusa Film Media team for their gold medal work to provide water awareness to the community through this video. To view their video submission, click the button below.
Click Here |

https://upperdistrict.org/teacherparenttoolkit/
https://upperdistrict.org/education-programs/
Upper District has seven landscape workshops scheduled this Fall starting with the fan favorite Composting Workshop on August 28th at 6pm through Zoom. This workshop covers everything from how soil can affect plants to making your own compost. Compost (Black Gold) plays a crucial role in building the health of the soil and supporting a thriving, drought resilient landscape. Join Upper District for this amazing hour full of information about Black Gold which has been proven to be a region-wide favorite.
Upper District is also pleased to announce another in-person Landscape Design Salon workshop on Saturday, September 21st in Monrovia. This workshop allows attendees to create their own landscape design and receive one-on-one guidance from landscape professionals. Check the website for dates, times, workshop descriptions, and to register!
Register Here |
About Upper District
Upper District’s mission is to consistently meet our region’s need for reliable, high quality and affordable water; including water conservation, recycled water, storm water capture, storage, water transfers and imported water. Upper District services nearly one million people in its 144 square mile service territory. Governed by a five-member elected board of directors, Upper District is a member agency of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Annually, more than 78 billion gallons of water is used in Upper District’s service area. For 60 years, Upper District has been a leader in water stewardship and water conservation.