Last week, the LADWP issued an official reminder that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), which supplies about 40% of our area’s water, has declared a regional drought emergency due to the “severe water shortage” facing the state and region.
According to LADWP:
” LADWP receives a large portion of its water purchased from MWD—an average of 41% from 2016 to 2020— which comes from the State Water Project via the California Aqueduct, and the Colorado River system via the Colorado River Aqueduct. On the state level, California is in its second consecutive year of dry conditions, with 2021 being the second driest water year in the state’s recorded history. Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation in October expanding the state’s drought emergency to Los Angeles County along with seven other counties that had been previously been excluded.”
Back in 2009, watering outdoor landscape with sprinklers in Los Angeles was limited to just three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays if you have an odd-numbered address; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays if you have an even-numbered address). And those rules are still in effect.
Also, according to LADWP, the following rules remain, too:
- Sprinklers with non-conserving nozzles can only run for up to 8 minutes per station; conserving nozzles can run for 15 minutes per station.
- No watering during rain or within 48 hours following rain.
- No watering with sprinklers between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. regardless of the water day.
- No water runoff onto streets, driveways, and gutters.
- No washing of any hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways, driveways, or parking areas using water, except for health and safety needs.
- Hand watering with a self-closing shut-off nozzle on the hose is permitted any day of the week before 9:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m.
- All leaks must be repaired in a timely manner.
- Washing vehicles is permitted using a hose with a self-closing water shut-off nozzle.
And LADWP warns that with the increasing shortages at the moment, “increased patrols and enforcement are being deployed.” So if you’ve let your watering schedules become a bit more generous in the past year or two, now’s the time to cut back again.
Finally, with both shortages and water prices increasing, cutting back on water usage in other ways would be a good idea, too. As we reported last week, LADWP has a wide variety of rebate and incentive programs to help encourage water efficiency for both homes and businesses. See http://www.ladwp.com/save for information on appliance rebates, turf-removal rebates, and more.
