California Water Authorities Take Action to Conserve Water at Gov. Gavin Newsom's Request

Photo: Jamie Squire/Allsport/Getty Images

California water officials this Tuesday adopted a ban on watering certain green spaces

as the state’s drought continues and with the hottest summer months to come.

The ban adopted by the California State Water Resources Control Board follows the request of the Governor Gavin Newsom for residents to use less water or face sweeping and mandatory restrictions on the use of the vital liquid.

Every water agency across CA needs to take more aggressive actions to communicate about the drought emergency & implement conservation measures.

Californians made significant changes since the last drought but we’ve seen an uptick in water use. We have to make every drop count. pic.twitter.com/ef80iUcw5

—Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) May 23, 2022

Related: Governor Gavin Newsom threatened to impose mandatory water restrictions if consumption is not reduced in California

This includes irrigation of non-functional turf on commercial and industrial sites, and violators can be fined $500 dollars per day.

From 10 June, certain lawn areas outside businesses, industrial facilities and institutions such as schools, hospitals and government facilities will not be allowed to be watered, as well as spaces managed by communities of owners.

The lawn that cannot be watered includes everything used for decoration and not for regular activities or events.

The ban does not apply to parks, sports fields, personal gardens or to irrigate trees. It would apply to lawns managed by communities of owners, but not to individual residents.

Beyond those restrictions, around 500 local water districts that serve California cities and towns must intensify conservation actions, the board voted.

Each district follows conservation requirements based on local plans created after the last drought. Many further limit how often people can water their gardens and aim to drive public messaging about the value of conservation.

This Tuesday, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) water conservation team set out to look for waste water in residential areas.

They said that the target is not to penalize people, but to educate them.

“They’re not going to get a citation, and even if they did, because we’re more interested in changing behavior and education, it would be a non-economic citation at first,” said LADWP’s Damon Ayala, who said that will begin issuing information letters to those who are not aware of the ordinance and the new changes in restrictions.

Officials from different agencies of water urged the ju Please not force them to apply more restrictions and instead give them more discretion based on local supply conditions.

Stacy Taylor, water policy manager at Mesa Water District in Orange County, said many local districts have already achieved significant water savings and increased supplies through investments in water storage. water, recycling and other measures.

The board approved an exception for a small number of water districts, including Santa Cruz, a coastal city of about 65,000 residents, where water use is already very low, of about 45 gallons per person per day. A shower of 10 minutes uses approximately 20 gallons.

Santa Cruz it is not as hot or dry as many parts of inland California and the city does not receive water from state supplies.

Under the exclusion, districts not dependent on state or federal supplies or the river Colorado, which have low average per capita water use and do not rely heavily on depleted groundwater supplies, will face a different set of rules. Only a few 10 districts are expected to meet that criteria, said Max Gomberg , water conservation and climate change manager.

Instead of going to the next step of their local plans, will be required to limit outdoor watering with potable water to two days per week and only during certain hours.

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