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San Diego County's six climate zone according to CIMIS

San Diego’s Six CIMIS Climate Zones

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

Your landscape’s water needs go a long way toward determining your garden’s design and your plant choices. By choosing wisely, you can minimize the need for artificial irrigation and still create a beautiful, sustainable landscape.

Under the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS), San Diego County is divided into six climate zones: Coastal, Coastal Inland, Upland Central, Transition, Mountain and Desert.

This climate system provides you factors to help you understand which plants will thrive in your landscaping under its native conditions. Gardening in harmony with your local climate zone and your microclimate helps you use resources, including water, most efficiently.

Which CIMIS climate zone are you in?

Zone 1: Coastal Prairie
The Coastal Prairie zone hugs our county’s coastline. It is the zone most strongly influenced by the ocean, with a mild marine climate resulting from the warm Pacific Ocean. Winters are mild, summers are cool, and there is almost always moisture in the air.

Zone 4: South Coast Inland
South Coastal Inland areas are just inland from the beach, or on high bluffs above the coastline. You can feel the ocean breeze, but you can’t taste the salt in the air. There is less fog and humidity than the immediate coastal area, and higher temperatures.

Zone 6: Upland Central
The higher elevation Upland Central areas are influenced both by moist coastal air and dry interior air. Humidity, morning fog, and wind are moderate, with low annual rainfall.

Zone 9: Transition
This marine-to-desert transition climate is farther inland. It features a combination of warmer thermal belts and cold-air basins and hilltops, with occasional marine influence. The climate can vary from heavy fog to dry Santa Ana winds.

Zone 16: Mountain
Steep slopes, variation in sun and wind exposure, shallow soils and heavier rainfall affect plants in the Mountain regions. Average annual rainfall is 30 inches, and wet years can bring 45 inches or more.

Zone 18: Desert
Dry and hot daytime conditions combine with cold nighttime temperatures in the Desert zone. Humidity is very low, and water is scarce. Average annual rainfall can be as low as 2.5 inches, with an average of just 6 inches.

Learn more about the specifics of your climate and microclimate on the California Irrigation Management Information System website, and the Sunset Western Garden Book website.

This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. Hardcopies are available free of charge at the Water Authority’s headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., Kearny Mesa. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.

The California Water Environment Association of San Diego recognized Vallecitos Water District wastewater treatment plant supervisor Dawn McDougle as its 2018 Supervisor of the Year. Photo: Courtesy VWD

Vallecitos Supervisor Honored for 28 Years of Environmental Protection

/in /by by Lisa Urabe, Vallecitos Water District

From her first day on the job at Vallecitos Water District in 1988, Dawn McDougle knew that she wanted to finish her career at the San Marcos-based water agency.

Her dedication, innovation, and commitment to the community have paid off in many ways over the decades. In January, they brought McDougle to the forefront of the region’s water industry when the California Water Environment Association of San Diego recognized her as Supervisor of the Year for her career of excellence, safety and protecting the environment.

McDougle started at Vallecitos as an industrial waste technician at a time when few women performed this work. She advanced her career by taking classes and earning certifications – and she helped others by mentoring and coaching them along the way. In 2002, McDougle was promoted to wastewater treatment plant supervisor.

Career Accomplishments Benefit the Community

Over the past 16 years, McDougle played a major role in the operation and management of the Meadowlark Reclamation Facility – recognized in 2009 with an Award of Excellence from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

“It’s been an awesome road with the Vallecitos Water District, and I am always going to be grateful to say I spent my career here and achieved all the goals I wanted to achieve,” said MdDougle.

McDougle’s tenure at Meadowlark included the recent completion of a $30 million expansion to an important part of Vallecitos’ water supply program that reduces demand on imported water supplies for northern San Diego County. The facility produces recycled water for golf courses at La Costa and the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad, several school sites, Legoland and the Carlsbad Flower Fields.

McDougle masterminded the use of new process units that extended the useful life of the Meadowlark plant well beyond 2030. With many constraints along the way, she kept the existing plant operating while constructing a new plant and meeting the plant expansion output goal of 5 million gallons per day.

McDougle’s staff at Meadowlark praise her extensive knowledge, her leadership, and her generosity in passing on her knowledge to others. “Dawn gave me an opportunity … She’s been great, she shows me what I have to do in order to be a successful operator. She’s top notch in this industry,” said Fernando Mata, Plant Operator.

The Meadowlark facility is visited frequently by students and ratepayers, because it provides an excellent opportunity to see how wastewater is converted to a valuable resource. Vallecitos developed successful outreach programs with McDougle’s guidance, including the California Water Environment Association “Wake up to Wastewater” tour, and the district’s award-winning Water Academy tour.

During the Water Academy tour, McDougle highlights how the district plays an integral role in protecting the environment through water reuse. It showcases an industry leader, who has spent her career making sure the district’s facilities live up to their promise.

 

San Diego County Water Authority Board Chairman Mark Muir. Photo: Water Authority Historic water deal

Water Authority Seeks Bright Ideas

/in , /by /San Diego County Water Authorityby Mark Muir, Board Chair

From California’s earliest days as a state, innovation has been king. We’ve collectively developed world-changing ways of mining gold, telling stories through film, farming, computing and communicating.

That same innovative DNA courses through the San Diego County Water Authority, which over the past year has expanded its efforts to advance pioneering solutions to water industry challenges.

Innovation is not a new concept for the Water Authority, which helped craft the largest water conservation-and-transfer agreement in U.S. history 15 years ago and more recently helped launch the largest seawater desalination plant in the country.

But these days we are taking a particularly aggressive approach across the agency to identify cutting-edge technologies that will help us continue to manage the region’s diverse water supplies and improve long-term stewardship of the region’s most precious natural resource. We have created an internal Innovation Program to promote creative problem-solving by staff, and we have started more broadly publicizing our interest in bright ideas from entrepreneurs and others who can help us stay ahead of water management issues.

Submit your innovative product or concept

If you have a product or concept that you would like to tell us about, go to sdcwa.org/innovation-program and submit the online form. That will help us identify the appropriate team member to evaluate your idea and provide feedback. Our goal is to respond within seven business days and let you know whether we have additional questions; if your product or idea may be a good fit for another agency; or if it is not feasible within the scope of our operations.

At the same time, we are promoting innovation on a national level. We’ve partnered with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to co-sponsor a nationwide contest to advance corrosion and leak-detection technologies for large-diameter pipelines. Corrosion and leaks are a major problem across the country, resulting in billions of gallons of water wasted annually, along with disruptions in water service and costly repairs.

Contest could help discover the next generation of water-saving tools

The competition runs through May 9 and includes a $75,000 purse provided by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest water provider and the operator of more than 20,000 miles of buried water pipelines. The Water Authority’s contribution includes helping to design the competition and providing judges to identify new approaches that can work effectively regardless of pipeline diameter or construction material.

There are numerous methods for finding leaks and flaws, and the Water Authority has pioneered some of them. However, none of them can efficiently assess the overall condition of pipelines while in operation. This contest could help us discover the next generation of condition assessment and water-saving tools, and it underscores one of our most important values – innovation. To learn more about the competition, go to www.usbr.gov/research/challenges/leakypipes.html.

 

The new skills lab for the Cuyamaca College Wastewater Studies program. Photo: Courtesy GCCCD

College Students Get Their Feet Wet at New Center for Water Studies

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

RANCHO SAN DIEGO – Cutting-edge training facilities unveiled for spring classes at Cuyamaca College help tomorrow’s water and wastewater workforce gain the hands-on experience necessary for successful careers in the industry. Additional upgrades are on the way by fall, as the college continues expanding its legacy of preparing workers for careers in water.

Cuyamaca’s new Center for Water Studies features an innovative Field Operations Skills Yard – an above-ground water distribution system and an underground wastewater collection system that provides students with practical challenges they will face in today’s complex water and wastewater facilities.

“These fully operational water and wastewater systems will be used to replicate many of the entry-level tasks employees perform as they begin their careers in the water and wastewater industry,” said Don Jones, who helped spearhead the creation of the Center for Water Studies. “It’s the culmination of a many years long pipe dream.”

Cuyamaca students also will benefit from a $1 million renovation to Water & Wastewater Technology program facilities, including a water quality analysis classroom and a shop area for backflow prevention and cross-connection control training. Renovations started this spring with completion anticipated by fall 2018.

Skilled water professionals are in high demand as the current workforce ages. Water and wastewater agencies employ more than 60,000 workers statewide, including 5,000 in San Diego County, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But the Water Research Foundation and the American Water Works Association anticipate one-third of the current water utilities workforce nationwide will retire over the next decade, offering numerous opportunities for 20-somethings to start careers.

The industry offers other benefits. In San Diego County, wastewater treatment and system operators earn an average annual wage of more than $66,000, according to the federal BLS.

Filling the Water Career Pipeline

Cuyamaca College’s Water & Wastewater Technology program is the oldest and most comprehensive program of its kind in the California Community Colleges system, educating the state’s water utility workforce for more than a half a century. In the 2016-2017 academic year, 35 students at Cuyamaca earned associate’s degrees or certificates in water and wastewater fields.

The college works closely with local water agencies, and the new Center for Water Studies evolved through discussions among members of the Cuyamaca College Water & Wastewater Technology Program Industry Advisory Committee. The committee comprises representatives from the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department, the San Diego County Water Authority, Helix Water District, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the City of Escondido Utilities Department, Olivenhain Municipal Water District and other agencies.

Funding for the recent upgrades at Cuyamaca comes from several sources:

  • A California Community College Strong Workforce grant provided $192,000 for the Field Operations Skills Yard.
  • A grant from the National Science Foundation provided $72,000 for the skills yard.
  • Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District’s Proposition V, approved by voters in 2012, provided $1 million for renovating classroom space.

Cuyamaca College has received a $900,000 National Science Foundation grant to encourage Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) students to consider careers in water and wastewater. Those funds also will help recruit veterans, women and students from underrepresented communities to start careers in water and wastewater management.

GUHSD and water industry experts currently are collaborating on lesson plans related to water and wastewater management skills for local high school science classes. High school teachers will be invited to activities at the Center for Water Studies as soon as this summer – another way that Cuyamaca’s investment is paying off for the community.

Irrigation Sprinkler Head

Gardeners, Do You Know Your ETo?

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

People around the world know San Diego for its beautiful, sunny and mild weather. San Diego residents know our daily weather has more variety than visitors might imagine.

Climate is defined as the average weather conditions in an area over a long period, generally 30 years or more. German climate scientist Wladimir Koppen first divided the world’s climate into six regions in the early 1900s.

Since then, U.S. climate zones have been defined in more detail. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines climate zones according to the lowest average temperate in the region. You may also be familiar with the 24 climate zones identified in Sunset Magazine’s iconic Sunset Western Garden Book.

Focusing on the critically important water management aspect of climate, the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) has also identified 24 climate zones.

Evaporation + Transpiration = Evapotranspiration

Depending on the amount of rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind, shade, and the nature of the soil, water in the ground evaporates at different rates. When evaporation is higher, the soil becomes dry more quickly.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces, and by transpiration from plants.

Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo) is a baseline formula. All your plant water needs are measured against this baseline in a complex series of measurements and calculations.

Why Is Understanding Evapotranspiration Important?

In metropolitan San Diego County, our annual ETo rate increases as you move inland, meaning the soil becomes dry more quickly.

Fortunately, we don’t need to worry about making these calculations on our own. CIMIS maintains a statewide system of weather stations and reference plots. From these, it has identified the six main ET Zones in San Diego County.

Understanding your ETo zone and gardening climate zone are important first steps toward deciding how much water your landscaping will need. Working against the ETo and gardening climate zones can greatly increase your need for irrigation.

Learn more about the specifics of your ETo climate zone and gardening microclimate on the California Irrigation Management Information System website, and the Sunset Western Garden Book website.

This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. Hardcopies are available free of charge at the Water Authority’s headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., Kearny Mesa. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.

2015: Carlsbad Desal Plant Taps the Pacific

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

More than 600 elected officials, community leaders and project partners attended a dedication ceremony for the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination on December 14, 2015. During the dedication event, the plant was named in honor of the late Carlsbad mayor, who was instrumental in making Carlsbad the host city for the plant. The event culminated with a “turning of the wheel” to symbolize the start of the water delivery. The Carlsbad plant is the nation’s largest seawater desalination project, producing approximately 50 million gallons of water per day, or about 10 percent of the region’s water supply.

Choosing native plants can help you minimize the need for artificial irrigation of your San Diego County sustainable landscaping. Photo: SDCWA

Take the Watershed Approach to Landscaping

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

Many San Diego County residents embrace sustainability as a central principle for creating or renovating their landscapes. Treating every garden, no matter its size, as its own mini-watershed allows it to capture and retain water to nurture a diverse habitat of plants and helpful insects.

What elements do you need to consider when taking a watershed approach to your landscape?

Follow the Four Key Principles of Sustainable Landscaping

The formula for successful sustainable landscaping includes four key principles:

  • Healthy, Living Soils: Healthy, living soils rich in organic content feed a complex soil food web. The soil holds water like a sponge, and has nutrients for optimal plant health.
  • Climate Appropriate Plants: Many choices of beautiful groundcovers, shrubs, and trees are compatible with San Diego’s mild Mediterranean climate. These plants use less water and display diverse colors, textures and shaped with endless design options.
  • Rainwater as a Resource: Sustainable landscapes make the most of natural rainfall. Slowing the flow of water off rooftops and hard surfaces allow it to be captured and sink into the soil, or be stored for later use.
  • High-Efficiency Irrigation: Your irrigation can maximize water-use efficiency through smart controllers to adjust water automatically to changing weather conditions, and high-performance distribution components to regulate pressure and tailor water delivery to the exact needs of your landscape plants.

Those principles were then put into practice at the Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden at the Water Authority headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., San Diego.

The 3,000-squre-foot garden is open to the public. It includes an exhibit-quality sign to introduce visitors to key sustainable landscaping principles. Smaller signs throughout the landscape identify specific plant types. Free brochures on sustainable landscaping featuring the landscape’s design plan and plant palette are also available for visitors to take home.

This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. Hardcopies are available free of charge at the Water Authority’s headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., Kearny Mesa. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.

Waterwise plant choices sustainble landscaping

Hot off the Press: Sustainable Landscaping Guidebooks Available Countywide

/in /by by Water News Network Staff

Free manuals include photos, diagrams and checklists for environmentally friendly upgrades.

Free copies of a popular guidebook for environmentally friendly landscape upgrades are available to residents countywide starting today, thanks to a second printing of the “San Diego Sustainable Landscape Guidelines” by the San Diego County Water Authority. Homeowners who commit to meeting rigorous sustainable landscaping design standards may also qualify for a financial incentive to help offset project costs.

Residents can pick up the 71-page, spiral-bound books at the front desk of the Water Authority’s Kearny Mesa headquarters, and at 18 other locations in San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Oceanside, San Marcos, Spring Valley and Bonita. (See location details below.) Quantities are limited, and participants are allowed only one book per household.

The Water Authority and its partners developed the comprehensive Sustainable Landscape Guidelines to help homeowners upgrade their landscapes with climate-appropriate plants, high-efficiency irrigation equipment, rainwater capture and detention features, and soil amendments to improve water efficiency.

The guidebooks – complete with photos, diagrams and checklists for following sustainable landscaping principles – were first published in October 2015, along with an electronic version that is at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. The principles were then put into practice at the Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden at the Water Authority headquarters, 4677 Overland Ave., San Diego. Recent interest in the demonstration garden – which is open to the public for self-guided tours – highlighted a demand for additional hard copies of the books.

“These manuals offer great step-by-step instructions for homeowners to create sustainable showpieces,” said Mark Muir, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “Anyone considering a landscape transformation should start with our how-to guide for success, which is tailored to local conditions in San Diego County.”

The guidebook resulted from the Sustainable Landscapes Program, or SLP, a partnership between the Water Authority, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, the Surfrider Foundation, the California American Water Co. and the Association of Compost Producers. Funds to create the SLP and to print 12,500 copies of the guidebook this winter were provided by a Proposition 84 grant from the California Department of Water Resources.

Residents who comply with the rigorous SLP design criteria, subject to additional terms and conditions, may qualify for up to $1.75 per square foot toward eligible project costs for upgrading 500 to 3,000 square feet of existing turf areas to sustainable landscapes. Incentives are limited. More information about incentive requirements is at slpincentives.watersmartsd.org.

Besides being available at locations countywide, the guidebooks are provided to participants in the Water Authority’s four-class WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Series. These free, award-winning and interactive classes teach participants SLP principles and are held over four consecutive weeks. The Water Authority will host two sessions of the Landscape Makeover Series in March and April. Class details and an application form are at landscapemakeover.watersmartsd.org/classes.

Free copies of the book are available while supplies last during business hours at the locations below from these participating agencies and organizations:

  • San Diego County Water Authority – 4677 Overland Ave., San Diego
  • City of San Diego
  • Public Utilities Department – 525 B St., Main Floor
  • City Administration Building Lobby – 202 C St.
  • Central Library – 300 Park Blvd.
  • Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library – 5148 Market St.
  • Rancho Peñasquitos Branch Library – 13330 Salmon River Road
  • Sweetwater Authority – 505 Garrett Ave, Chula Vista
  • Water Conservation Garden – 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive W., El Cajon
  • City of Oceanside
  • Civic Center Library – 330 Coast Highway
  • Mission Branch Library – 3861 Mission Ave.
  • Civic Center, Revenue and Cashiering Office – 300-C N. Ditmar St., East Building
  • Civic Center, Water Administration Office – 300 N. Coast Highway, First Floor, South Building
  • Vallecitos Water District – 201 Vallecitos De Oro, San Marcos
  • Otay Water District
  • District office – 2554 Sweetwater Springs Blvd., Spring Valley
  • Southwestern College Library – 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista
  • Otay Ranch Branch Library – 2015 Birch Road, Suite #409, Chula Vista
  • Bonita-Sunnyside Branch Library – 4375 Bonita Road, Bonita
  • Salt Creek Recreation Center – 2710 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista
  • Heritage Recreation Center – 1381 E. Palomar St., Chula Vista

To view the guidebook and a list of pick-up locations online, go to sustainablelandscapessd.org/guidelines.

The San Diego County Water Authority's Sustainable Landscaping offers examples of plant choices for our region. Photo: SDCWA

Free WaterSmart Landscaping Class Series Returns in March

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Participants receive expert advice and develop a personalized landscape plan

Looking for a way to spruce up your yard and trim water use at the same time? The San Diego County Water Authority is here to help with two new sessions of the four-part WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Series starting in March.

These free, award-winning and interactive classes teach the steps for successfully converting high-water-use turf areas to WaterSmart landscapes during four classes over consecutive weeks. Participants learn from local landscape professionals about soil, project planning and design, turf removal, plant selection, irrigation, efficiency and rainwater harvesting. Each series culminates with experts helping homeowners create personalized landscape makeover plans.

The first class begins March 5 at the Water Authority’s headquarters in Kearny Mesa. Another four-part series, also at the Kearny Mesa facility, begins March 28. Each class is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Preregistration and a commitment to attend all four classes in the series is required. Applicants must also identify existing turf areas to remove at their homes and have in-ground, working irrigation systems to qualify.

Class details and an online application form are at landscapemakeover.watersmartsd.org/classes. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis; applicants may join a waitlist if their desired session is full.

“Participants rave about how these classes not only instruct, but inspire them to do more with their yards by enhancing their landscapes while increasing water-use efficiency,” said Mark Muir, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “Since the landscape makeover series began in April 2014, participants have cut their average household water use by about a third because of their WaterSmart landscape upgrades.”

The class series is recommended – but not required – for residents interested in following guidelines set by the Sustainable Landscapes Program. The grant-funded partnership, known as the SLP, was created by the Water Authority, the City of San Diego, the County of San Diego, the Surfrider Foundation, the California American Water Company and the Association of Compost Producers. The SLP promotes landscape upgrades that comply with a more rigorous set of design criteria than other turf replacement programs. It includes climate-appropriate plants and high-efficiency irrigation equipment, rainwater capture and detention features, and soil amendments to improve water efficiency. The Water Authority recently installed the Sustainable Landscaping Demonstration Garden at its Kearny Mesa headquarters at 4677 Overland Ave. in San Diego. Visitors to the demonstration garden can view a practical, beautiful landscape that applies SLP principles that can be replicated at their homes.

A limited number of SLP incentives remain to help qualified applicants receive up to $1.75 per square foot toward eligible project costs for upgrading 500 to 3,000 square feet of existing turf areas to sustainable landscapes. For more information about the SLP, including program resources and incentives, go to sustainablelandscapessd.org.

In addition to the four-class series, the Landscape Makeover Program offers free, three-hour WaterSmart Landscape Design Workshops – a popular first step toward implementing water-efficient landscapes. The workshops provide an introduction to skills and resources needed for a landscape makeover. The Water Authority, in partnership with its member agencies, will hold workshops in February, March and April at locations around the county. Workshop locations, times and registration details are at landscapemakeover.watersmartsd.org/design_workshop.

Residents who want to learn more about the makeover process from the comfort of their homes can view the Landscape Makeover Videos on Demand at landscapemakeover.watersmartsd.org/elearning. Those videos provide content that is similar to the workshops and class series in an online format for easy access.

 

WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Series

Upcoming Four-Class Series

March 5, 12, 19 and 26
March 28, April 4, 11 and 18

Classes are held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Water Authority’s Kearny Mesa headquarters,
4677 Overland Ave.

For details and to apply:
landscapemakeover.watersmartsd.org/classes.

Flowers, WaterSmart checkup program

Wanted: Large Landscapes for Program Proven to Reduce Irrigation Water Use

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Participants receive training, state-of-the-art tools to cut outdoor demand by at least 20 percent.

The San Diego County Water Authority is seeking approximately 20 commercial-scale landscapes for participation in a program that has demonstrated significant outdoor water-use reductions through a combination of training, hardware upgrades and technical assistance valued at more than $15,000 per site.

Applicants have until March 31 to file statements of interest in the WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program, using the form at watersmartsd.org.  An interest meeting is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. on Feb. 15 at San Diego Gas & Electric’s Energy Innovation Center, 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

In two earlier iterations of the landscape efficiency program, water savings topped 30 percent, exceeding the target of 20 percent. Participating sites have included parks, apartments, schools and homeowner association common areas. Project sites are typically about four irrigated acres (though they are often part of a larger property), and they must be on dedicated potable water meters.

“We are looking for places to showcase significant water savings without compromising landscape quality by employing best practices for irrigation management and top-tier technology,” said Carlos Michelon, principal water resources specialist at the Water Authority. “This program is one of many ways the Water Authority continues to promote long-term water-use efficiency.”

The WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program requires joint participation by property owners and landscape maintenance contractors at each site. Landscape contractors receive training, assistance, and performance-based financial incentives for documented water savings. Site owners receive water-saving devices and the long-term benefits of lower water use. The program is funded mainly through a Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management grant from the California Department of Water Resources.

Program benefits include leak detection and repair, irrigation system pressure regulation, improvements in distribution uniformity of irrigation water, and the installation of flow sensors and weather-based irrigation controllers. Each site is provided with a water management target that will be tracked for a year. Participants are responsible for hardware installation, landscape maintenance and other contract conditions.

From the pool of interested parties, the Water Authority will select those that best fit the program’s technical requirements and are most likely to meet the program’s demanding implementation schedule. Promising sites that aren’t selected for the program’s current round may be eligible for future rounds, depending on funding.

In addition to the WaterSmart Landscape Efficiency Program, the Water Authority offers free training to landscape professionals through the Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper program. That program, known as QWEL, provides 20 hours of training on the latest water-efficiency principles and the opportunity to earn a QWEL certificate. Information about QWEL is at qwel.watersmartsd.org.