LOS ANGELES (LADWP)— Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will move to Phase 3 of its emergency water conservation plan – requiring all LADWP customers to cut the number of outdoor watering days from three to two.
“Los Angeles didn’t just become one of the most water efficient cities in the world overnight – but regardless of how much we’ve already done, today is about recognizing how much further we have to go,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “While the reduction in outdoor watering is important, it’s just one piece of our larger conservation effort – so if we want our children and grandchildren to be able to turn to the tap with confidence, we need to double down on the solutions that have made conservation a way of life in L.A.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials say drought is worsening and yet residents used more water in March than any month since 2015.
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The transition, which requires City Council approval, would go into effect June 1. For all LADWP customers with street addresses ending in odd numbers, watering will be limited to Mondays and Fridays. For all customers with addresses ending in even numbers, watering will be limited to Thursdays and Sundays. The changes come on top of existing watering restrictions, which stipulate that customers watering with sprinklers are limited to eight minutes per use; watering with sprinklers using water conserving nozzles are limited to 15 minutes; and watering between the hours of 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM is prohibited, regardless of the watering day.
Starting next month, LADWP plans to roll out an outreach and education campaign to help spread awareness of the coming changes. The Department is also planning to increase the number of its Water Conservation Response Units, which will be teams in the field to provide warnings and issue citations to customers who are repeatedly out of compliance.
As water irrigation now makes up just 35 percent of LADWP’s total water use, Mayor Garcetti highlighted the nearly 20 water rebates offered by LADWP that have allowed Los Angeles to become one of the most water efficient cities in the country. These rebates include:
- $3 per square foot rebate for turf replacement for up to 5,000 square feet per project for residential and commercial customers;
- $500 for high-efficiency clothes washers, which increased $100 last month;
- $250 for high-efficiency toilets, which also increased $100 last month;
- $500 for zero and ultra low water urinals;
- $6 for rotating sprinkler nozzles;
- Free bathroom and kitchen faucet aerators;
- Free high-efficiency showerheads;
- $5 million allocated by LADWP to offer discounts on real-time water use monitoring devices;
- And up to $2 million through the Technical Assistance Program (TAP), which incentivizes large conservation projects for commercial and industrial customers, up from $250,000 earlier this year.
“We know that when called upon, Angelenos not only do their part to conserve, but they step up as leaders in conservation,” said Cynthia McClain-Hill, President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. “So today, we are asking all of our customers to lean in harder this summer to save more water. A little less water use by everyone adds up to a lot more water available to get us through the summer and into next winter.”
LADWP is asking customers to reduce their per person use by seven gallons a day, which is the equivalent of reducing showering time by four minutes, or shutting the faucet off during a 2-minute tooth brushing cycle and 5-minute shaving cycle.
“In selecting the option offered by MWD to go on a water budget, we believe we can manage our system to meet the limitations in water delivery by MWD by going to two-days-a-week watering, while giving customers recognition for the significant conservation efforts they have already made for over a decade,” said LADWP General Manager and Chief Engineer Martin Adams.
Since Mayor Garcetti took office in 2013, LADWP customers have saved over 256 billion gallons of water – enough water to fill the LA Coliseum over 900 times, and nearly double the amount of water LADWP uses in an entire year. LADWP has invested hundreds of millions in its rebate programs, and in addition to the increases of the washers and toilets rebate last year, is continuing to look for ways to expand its current programs. For the past decade, LADWP’s turf replacement rebate program has helped Angelenos replace over 51.1 million square feet of turf, which equates to enough water savings to supply 27,500 homes per year.
The City of Los Angeles has worked to reduce dependence on imported water. In 2018, Mayor Garcetti played a critical role in the passage of Measure W, L.A. County’s Safe, Clean Water Program, which provides nearly $300 million in local, dedicated annual funding for projects that increase local water supplies, improve water quality, enhance the public right of way, and protect public health.
In response to the 2014 drought, Mayor Garcetti signed Executive Directive 5, which set a 20 percent reduction target by 2017. ED 5 successfully reduced potable water use from 133 to 106 gallons per capita by February 2017. Two years later, Mayor Garcetti announced that the City would recycle 100 percent of its wastewater for reuse by 2035 at the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant.
