Would you like the good news or the bad news first?
Let’s start with the bad news: The bad news is that California is still in a drought. But the good news is that water providers are taking important steps to shore up support for water conservation and to hold off on water rate increases for as long as possible.
The Triunfo Sanitation District announced some steps in the recently adopted Water Shortage Contingency Plan and how it will affect residents of Oak Park. Some of the conservation measures enumerated by the plan include:
- Obligations to fix all leaks and irrigation malfunctions within five days of the leak/malfunction being observed
- No hosing down driveways, tennis courts, patios and sidewalks
- No running sprinklers during rain or within 24 hours of “a measurable amount of rainfall in the Oak Park area”
- Limits on irrigation hours (a.k.a. no watering between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. except if repairing a home irrigation system or under other extenuating circumstances)
- Running irrigation systems for no more than 15 minutes per day per station (except for weather-based irrigation systems which satisfy certain efficiency standards)
Oak Park Water Service, which provides water to Oak Park residents, receives all of its water supply from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is reducing its available commercial water supply by 15%. This means that all of the smaller water districts which receive water deliveries from the MWD will have to make due with only 85% of former water allotments, but with the same amount of customers and no visibly decreasing demand.
Though monetary fines and specific watering days are not currently in place, they may be by the end of next month. Currently, the Triunfo Sanitation District is “hopeful that we can achieve at least the requested 15 percent cut in water use by reducing conservation waste,” the district stated in a recent water conservation update.
The aforementioned water conservation tips can help save significant amounts of water. The Cyber-Rain sprinkler controller is an excellent weather-based irrigation system option, which can cut down on water used for irrigation by nearly 40% each year. Many other water districts are implementing similar conservation measures. Some districts and conservation supporters (including BeWaterWise.com and SoCal Water$mart) encourage replacing old water devices with water-smart ones, such as smart sprinkler controllers. Financial incentives and water savings await you!