Fall is the perfect time to yank those thirsty lawns and install drought-tolerant landscapes with the help of cooler days and major financial incentives.
Homeowners and businesses in San Diego County can receive between $2 and $4 per square foot for removing grass and replacing it with low water-use plants that are better suited to withstand the hot and dry conditions that continue to hammer the West.
Fall is the perfect time to yank those thirsty lawns and install drought-tolerant landscapes with the help of cooler days and major financial incentives.
Homeowners and businesses in San Diego County can receive between $2 and $4 per square foot for removing grass and replacing it with low water-use plants that are better suited to withstand the hot and dry conditions that continue to hammer the West.
All customers are eligible for the base rebate of $2 per square foot, but other agencies offer additional funding, including the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego.
In addition, a newly signed state law exempts local rebates for grass replacement from state income tax, ensuring more dollars can be spent creating beautiful and functional WaterSmart yards.
“Drought conditions make it imperative to boost water conservation in San Diego County and across the state,” said Sandra L. Kerl, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. “Using California tax incentives and regional rebates to install WaterSmart landscapes is a clear winner for stretching water supplies both today and for generations to come.”
San Diego County residents can take advantage of savings on water-saving technologies such as high-efficiency clothes washers & toilets, rain barrels — and can schedule free #WaterSmart checkups to make their properties more water-efficient.https://t.co/yFi2DgXixS
— San Diego County Water Authority (@sdcwa) October 16, 2022
California is entering a fourth straight year of drought, which climatologists say is one of the worst in state history. To make matters worse, a 22-year “megadrought” has impacted the Colorado River, which is the state’s other key source of California water supply. The impacts of a hotter, drier climate make replacing turfgrass with low water-use plants a key part of conserving our most precious natural resource.
For the past 30 years, the Water Authority and its member agencies have promoted water-use efficiency through a variety of tools such as rebates, classes, and other resources available across their service areas. Overall per capita water use in the county is down more than 40% since 1990, and the vast majority of county residents believe that water-use efficiency is a civic duty.
Help conserve water by transforming your outdoor spaces into a WaterSmart Landscape. @sdcwa offers free do-it-yourself workshops taught local landscape design professionals. You can now watch recordings of past workshops too! https://t.co/4U0zuAc7gO pic.twitter.com/jrnELsKNsk
— San Diego County Sustainability (@SDCoSustainable) October 16, 2022
Landscaping upgrades are particularly important because more than half of all residential water use is outdoors. Rebates and incentives available to residents and businesses in San Diego County are at: www.sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation/.
Information on rebates and other incentives for residents and businesses to reduce water use and increase water-efficiency: https://t.co/1LnJNWpVAo @bewaterwiseh2o @saveourwater @CityofSanDiego @SanDiegoCounty
— San Diego County Water Authority (@sdcwa) October 16, 2022
(Editor’s Note: The San Diego County Water Authority sustains a $240 billion regional economy and the quality of life for 3.3 million residents through a multi-decade water supply diversification plan, major infrastructure investments and forward-thinking policies that promote fiscal and environmental responsibility. A public agency created in 1944, the Water Authority delivers wholesale water supplies to 24 retail water providers, including cities, special districts and a military base.)
October 17, 2022 – Fall is the perfect time to yank those thirsty lawns and install drought-tolerant landscapes with the help of cooler days and major financial incentives.
Homeowners and businesses in San Diego County can receive between $2 and $4 per square foot for removing grass and replacing it with low water-use plants that are better suited to withstand the hot and dry conditions that continue to hammer the West. All customers are eligible for the base rebate of $2 per square foot, but other agencies offer additional funding, including the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego. Click here for details: www.sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation/.
On a clear afternoon recently, Mayor Eric Garcetti looked down at the Hollywood Reservoir from 1,200 feet in the air.
“It’s as low as I can ever remember it being,” Garcetti said of the reservoir from the back seat of a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power helicopter. “You can see the bathtub ring.”
The National Weather Service in Seattle posted a graphic this week that contains a startling fact. Since July 1, Seattle, a city synonymous with rain, has been drier than San Diego, a city synonymous with clear, dry skies.
From July 1 to Oct. 9, San Diego recorded 0.65 inches of rain. Seattle, 1,250 miles to the north, had only 0.48 inches.
The California Coastal Commission is slated to vote Thursday on a crucial permit for a project that would draw ocean water through the sand off the coast of Dana Point, purify it and use it to help bolster water supplies for communities throughout Southern California.
A dozen desalination plants are permitted to turn ocean water into drinking water in California today, from as far south as Carlsbad to as far north as Monterey Bay. A year ago, three new desalination projects were pending in Southern California alone. But only one still remains viable: the Doheny Ocean Desalination Plant, which is being developed by South Coast Water District.
Internationally, the polar bear may be the climate-change canary in a coal mine.
Locally, it could be the avocado.
The fruit so identified with San Diego County agriculture has been on the decline for years. Severe weather, water availability and rising water prices — at least in part attributed to climate change — have reduced the yield of the crop and the revenue it generates.
Plans for a large, high-tech wave pool in La Quinta were recently rejected by its city council, but a handful of other water-centric attractions — including a trio that would feature artificial wave technology — are moving forward in the Coachella Valley.
The projects, which range from Palm Springs in the west to Thermal in the east, have gained approval from elected bodies to move forward. But some say more needs to be done to reduce the parks’ water usage, particularly as California just saw its driest three-year period on record.
Collaboration among all water users is key to developing solutions for the Colorado River Basin, which is in the midst of a 22-year megadrought. That was one of the common themes during a webinar Thursday, in which water managers and other officials discussed ways to slow or stabilize the rate of decline of the major source of water for seven states and Mexico.
Almost two months ago, the seven Colorado River Basin states blew past a federal deadline to negotiate significant cuts to their water usage.
There’s finally some concrete action. Water managers in California, which uses more Colorado River water than any other state, have agreed to reduce their usage by one-tenth in 2023.
