SoCal water restrictions start Wednesday: What you need to know
LOS ANGELES - Watering restrictions throughout parts of Southern California go into effect Wednesday, June 1.
In Los Angeles, the water conservation measures approved by LA City Council earlier this month restrict outdoor watering to two days per week based on street address.
The restrictions for LADWP customers are more lenient than the one-day limit ordered earlier by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for areas that are dependent on water from the State Water Project.
Watering will be cut down from the current three, with watering permitted at odd-numbered street addresses on Mondays and Fridays, and at even-numbered addresses on Thursdays and Sundays.
Watering with sprinklers will be limited to eight minutes per station.
Sprinklers with water-conserving nozzles will be limited to 15 minutes per station.
All watering will have to be done in the evening or early morning, with no watering permitted outdoors between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The city also urged residents with pools to use pool covers to reduce the risk of evaporation, and called on people to wash their vehicles only at commercial car wash facilities.
The city's water restrictions will be enforced by the Conservation Response Unit, which will focus on areas that are using the most water, according to DWP General Manager and Chief Engineer Marty Adams. He said the department will re-assign employees to ensure coverage in all areas of the city, and might bring on additional personnel during the summer.
Enforcement will begin with education for people who are violating the ordinance, but will escalate with fines and tickets if needed.
Penalties begin with a written warning, then $200 for a second written violation, $400 for a third written violation and $600 for a fourth written violation.
Meanwhile, for residents outside the city of Los Angeles, watering will be restricted to one-day per week, as announced by the MWD on April 26.
That restriction will apply to the district's member agencies that are heavily dependent on supplies from the State Water Project, but the agency called on all Southern California residents and businesses to slash water use by 30% to combat drought conditions "unlike anything we've experienced before.''
MWD member agencies that fail to enforce the requirement among their customers will face fines of up to $2,000 per acre-foot of water supplied by MWD that exceeds monthly allocation limits.
The ban does not include turf at residences or turf used for recreation or community purposes.
Violations would be punishable by a fine of up to $500. Residential and commercial customers can get $3 per square foot of turf for up to 5,000 square feet, and public agencies can get $4 per square foot for up to 200,000 square feet of turf.
The agency also gives a $6 rebate for rotating sprinkler nozzles.
In Depth: Water Woes
Guest host Bob De Castro takes over for Hal Eisner. Mandy Sackett, Surfrider Foundation's California Policy Coordinator, joins Bob to talk about the potential of desalination to alleviate the worst threat of drought in California. MWD General Manager Adel Hagekhalil joins Bob to talk about the drought crisis, which he calls the worst drought ever. Bob speaks to Emily Parker, a water quality scientist with Heal the Bay, about the problem of microplastics.
Residential customers can also receive $500 rebates for high-efficiency clothes-washer purchases and $250 for water-efficient toilet purchases.
According to the DWP, the more efficient appliances can reduce water use by more than 11,000 gallons per year. Rebate-eligible toilets use about 30% less water than standard models.
DWP business customers can receive $300 rebates for low-flush toilets, which used to have a rebate of $250. Bathroom and kitchen faucet aerators and high-efficiency showerheads are available for free.
Multi-family, commercial and industrial building owners who install large-scale water conservation systems can also receive a $2 million incentive, which was increased earlier this year from $250,000.
The Technical Assistance Program incentive is available for pre-approved cooling towers, recirculation systems, recycling microfiltration systems and other upgrades that reduce potable water use by a minimum of 50,000 gallons over two years.
More information is available on the LADWP's website.