SANTA CRUZ >> The Santa Cruz Water Department OK’d customers to resume standard winter supply early Friday after a second Newell Creek Pipeline leak patch continued to hold for more than 24 hours.

Since Monday, city water users had been asked to defer loads of laundry and dishes and even put off taking showers in order to cut back their water usage by 30 percent in the already water-lean rainy winter days. While usage did drop on Tuesday and Wednesday, it had begun to climb upward again by Thursday, said Water Department spokeswoman Eileen Cross.

Even with customers’ conservation efforts, the city was forced to seek about 1 million gallons of water a day from neighboring Soquel Creek Water District supplies and draw down its several water storage tanks to about 75 percent of capacity.

Apparent movement in the ground near the affected Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park pipe section allowed hundreds of thousands of water to spill early Monday morning before water flow could be temporarily stemmed to the pipeline, officials said. The Newell Creek Pipeline is part of a major water supply artery for the city, connecting the Loch Lomond Reservoir and the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant. The city reverts to using its Loch Lomond reserves during stormy times when other surface water supplies are too turbid, or filled with sediment, to treat.