LOS ANGELES – Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the Governor’s action on water conservation today and said that it will join with his Mayoral Executive directive from the Fall to further drive water use down in LA to reach Mayor Garcetti’s targets a reduction in per capita potable water use by 20% by 2017 and a 50% reduction in LADWP purchase of imported water by 2024.
The Governor’s announcement came earlier today following the State’s snow survey that show the snowpack at 6% of normal and the lowest on record. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) most recent snowpack survey results show just 1-inch of water content in the Eastern Sierra, 2% of normal, that supplies water to Los Angeles via the Los Angeles Aqueduct. This the lowest level recorded in LA history.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “We are making the drought a top priority because this record drought threatens our economy and environment at crisis levels. I welcome Gov. Brown’s announcement and the state’s response to our historic drought, which joins with my directive to cut our city’s water consumption by 20% by 2017 and increase rebates for residential turf removal to $3.75 per square foot. Since I announced my executive directive in October 2014, Los Angeles has reduced its water consumption by 7 gallons per capita per day and we are on track to meet our goal of 20% reduction by 2017. And in the current fiscal year, we’ve replaced three times as much turf as we have in all of last year. Now we must keep up our momentum to conserve, recycle and rethink how we use water to save money and ensure we have enough supply so that our city can thrive.”
Los Angeles has implemented various measures to continue drought response and cut back even further. Successes include:
Mayor Garcetti’s Executive Directive 5 in October 2014 increased turf removal and replacement rebates to $3.75 a square foot for residential customers. Since the program was rolled in 2009, Los Angeles customers both residential and commercial have removed nearly 14 million square feet of turf saving more than 480 million gallons of water each year. In the current fiscal year, turf rebates processed have already tripled as of February 15 compared to all of 2013-2014.
City departments have also accelerated turf removal and replacement in city facilities. LADWP alone has replaced 326,307 square feet of turf in 15 LADWP facilities.
In an effort to lead by example, City departments have reduced outdoor watering to two days a week for all city facilities and urged customers to do the same.
Los Angeles has reduced drinking water use at large landscapes including golf courses—currently, 76% of LA’s city public golf courses are irrigated with recycled water.
More than $280 million have been disbursed in water conservation rebates since 1990, yielding an annual water savings of more than 110,000 acre-feet or 36 billion gallons.
http://www.lamayor.org/mayor_garcetti_welcomes_governor_brown_s_call_to_further_conserve_water