Burbank Democratic Club

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced a water supply alert that does not call for mandatory restrictions, but does ask cities to ratchet up its efforts to save water in the face of the dry conditions, spokesman Bob Muir said.

“We’re urging local cities to update their drought ordinances,” he said. “A lot of them have them on the books and now it’s time to dust them off.”

The alert follows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement on June 4 of a statewide drought and comes more than four months after Metropolitan approved a Water Supply Allocation Plan to restrict water deliveries.

Officials could implement the plan — which would require cities to call for mandatory water restrictions — by spring 2009, Muir said.