Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 3, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
DWP offers cash incentive for water-saving landscapes
Santa Ana
The
Conservation summit targets watering
Senate approves Wiggins' salmon bill
The Times-Standard
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DWP offers cash incentive for water-saving landscapes
Los Angeles
Faced with another year of drought, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering customers a cash incentive to replace their grass lawns with drought-tolerant plants.
The Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program will credit single-family residential customers $1 for each square foot of turf removed and replaced with drought-tolerant plants, mulch and water-permeable hardscapes, DWP officials said in a statement today.
New landscaping plans must be approved by the DWP before they are implemented and evidence of installation must be provided to receive the rebate, the statement said. DWP staff will visit customers’ homes before and after the work has been done to confirm how much grass has been replaced.
Three years of below-average precipitation and regulatory factors have resulted in shortages from the DWP’s major water sources, the Eastern Sierras and the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. The DWP already offers rebates for installing water-efficient appliances and fixtures.
On Monday, new water conservation measures came into effect restricting the use of lawn sprinkler systems to Mondays and Thursdays for all DWP customers. A new rate structure that encourages customers to reduce consumption also came into effect.
"As we ask our customers to cut back on their outdoor watering, the landscaping incentive provides a great alternative to maintaining their lawns," DWP Chief Executive David Nahai said in the statement.
The department estimates that 30% to 40% of water use occurs outdoors. One square foot of traditional lawn needs about 50 inches of water per year, compared with about 15 inches for most drought-resistant plants, the statement said.
Customers seeking information on the Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program can call( 888) 376-3314.#
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/water-savings.html
Santa Ana
The city operates the biggest water agency in Orange County
The
By Doug Irving
Every shower, sprinkle and sip of water is about to cost a little more after city leaders voted this week to raise water rates for the third time in less than two years.
The average homeowner can expect to pay nearly $8 more every month when the new water rates take effect in July. The city's rates – already higher than those in neighboring cities – have increased about 43 percent since 2007, records show.
In other words, the same homeowner who was paying around $37.50 a month for water two years ago will soon be getting bills for about $53.50 a month.
City officials say there are limits to how much cheap water they can pump from the ground, especially after three years of dry weather. That has forced them to import more water from elsewhere – and pay much more for it.
A 2008 survey by the Municipal Water District found that
The City Council voted 7-0 on Monday evening to pass those higher costs on to residents, saying the city could not afford to absorb those expenses on its own. They also increased sewer fees, tacking another $1 onto the average monthly bill.
But several residents complained that they are in no better position than the city to pay higher costs.
"With this current economic condition and the cut back in my work hours, I find this proposal not only unaffordable, but unconscionable as well," resident Kevin Parten wrote in a letter to the City Council.
Another writer, 86-year-old Echo McNeilly, summed up her thoughts with two words: "Enough already!"
This year, though, the Orange County Water District – with an eye toward preserving a dwindling supply of groundwater – limited how much each agency could draw from the wells. That means
The city's proposed budget shows a big increase – nearly $3 million – in the expected cost to supply water. It also includes smaller increases in the amount spent on operating expenses and administration.
The latest water-rate hike comes as the city struggles to make ends meet. But city officials said the extra money it raises would go only toward water-related expenses – not toward plugging holes in other parts of the budget.
The city's proposed budget does show millions of dollars in charges and payouts between the water agency and other city departments. But Coughran said those are to cover water expenses handled by those other departments – contracts written by city attorneys, for example, or office work done by Public Works staffers.
In all, the city plans to spend about $26 million just to supply its water in the coming fiscal year. It expects to spend about that much again to maintain its water system and cover its administrative and operating costs.
The rate hike is the third in
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-city-santa-2438467-expenses-county
Conservation summit targets watering
By Dave Downey
Regional leaders say that exploring the next frontier in water conservation will require shifting the focus of residential landscapes from thirsty turf to drought-tolerant plants.
And San Diego County Water Authority officials hope to move in that direction with the aid of a logo and slogan they unveiled Tuesday at the region's third "water conservation summit" in four years.
The logo is a simply drawn plant with three leaves and a drop of water that looks to be about to fall on the middle leaf.
The slogan is this: "Water smart landscape, a better way to beautiful."
Kelly Mooney, water resources specialist for the water authority, said the slogan was an outgrowth of research that showed homeowners are deeply concerned about how their landscapes look.
"Beauty means everything," Mooney said. "It is the top priority, way before conservation. And it has a lot to do with the perception that
Shannon Van Wyk, one of the 360 people attending the all-day summit at
"You have to make it the cool thing to do in order for people to do it," Van Wyk, a real estate agent who lives in
But the water authority will have to do much more than make planting low-water-use trees, shrubs and flowers a trendy thing. Mooney said that's because replacing grass with any number of a wide variety of plants is far more complicated than replacing a fixture inside one's house.
"It's overwhelming," Mooney said. "It's not like changing out a toilet or a showerhead."
And, so, she said, the water authority intends to provide how-to guides to homeowner associations and other community groups as it markets the new logo and slogan.
Getting homeowner associations to buy into the concept will be key, said Shawna Harrison, a landscape architect from Encinitas who attended the summit. Some associations won't let families change out turf.
"That's a huge problem,"
Past conservation campaigns have largely focused on toilets, showerheads and other fixtures inside the house.
And they have enjoyed some success.
Mark Weston, general manager for the La Mesa-based Helix Water District, one of the authority's 24 member agencies, said per capita consumption today is down 25 percent across
And now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants the whole state to trim use another 20 percent by 2020.
Chris Brown, executive director for the California Urban Water Conservation Council in
Experts attending the conference said about half of local water use takes place outdoors, and lawns require two to three times as much water as other plants.#
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/06/02/news/sandiego/z917e2c444bb20f5b882575c9007de926.txt
Senate approves Wiggins' salmon bill
The Times-Standard-6/03/09
The state Senate voted 23-10 Monday to approve legislation by North Coast Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Eureka, that aims to enhance efforts to save the state's imperiled salmon and steelhead populations.
Currently, the state Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is authorized to make grants and loans for a variety of projects to improve coastal water quality, improve fisheries, protect ocean ecosystems and similar purposes. These projects are funded through the Ocean Protection Trust Fund, which is largely supported by Proposition 84, and has about $45 million in unallocated funds.
Wiggins' bill, Senate Bill 539, would add projects to restore native salmon and steelhead trout populations to the list of eligible uses of the Ocean Protection Trust Fund.
”For the second year in a row,
Wiggins said that while the OPC has engaged in fisheries management issues, it has not yet focused much attention on the collapse of
A recent report by CalTrout, authored in part by Peter Moyle of U.C. Davis, said that the state's native salmonids are in unprecedented decline, and are teetering toward the brink of extinction, according to a release from Wiggins' office.
The report concluded that if present trends continue, 65 percent of native salmon, steelhead and other trout species will be extinct within the next century.
With Senate approval, S.B. 539 is headed to the Assembly for consideration.#
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_12508407?IADID=Search-www.times-standard.com-www.times-standard.com
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