By James McCurdy
Since June 1st, broad swaths of Southern California—an estimated 6 million people—were placed under unprecedented drought restrictions after the driest start to a year on record.
Restrictions, purposed for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s (MWD) consumers in Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino Counties, respond to the agency’s pressing call for a 35% reduction in water use, as more than 97% of the state finds itself in severe, extreme, or exceptional drought conditions.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new drought rules seek to limit outdoor urban water use, primarily the over-watering of lawns and gardens. MWD did not dictate the methodology of localized conservation rules, but did select agencies serviced by State Water Project infrastructure, which transports water from a quickly depleting Northern source. The localization of drought restriction accounts for tailor-made regulation throughout the region, ultimately creating a patchwork of conservation practices. Some agencies are basing water-saving efforts on volumetric allocations, although most are limiting the time residences can spend watering. Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and districts alike, allow citizens to water their gardens one-day-a-week, while the Los Angeles Department of Fire and Water (LADWP) allows constituents two-days-a-week.
The LADWP, MWD’s largest member agency, servicing the city of Los Angles and parts of Bishop, Culver City, South Pasadena, and West Hollywood divide the restrictions by time and address. Those with odd addresses water on Monday and Friday, while those with even addresses water Thursday and Sunday. Regardless of assigned days, watering is only permitted for 8-minutes-a-day or two 15 minute-cycles for sprinklers with water-conserving nozzles. Because of the rise in temperature, watering between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. is disallowed. Those who violate the rules will first be warned, then fined, and if dissidence continues, fined some more.
The restrictions, while necessary, compound the danger of a perilous fire season. Since many non-native plants will dry up or die under the new restrictions, the Los Angeles Fire Department is imploring residents to prevent “fire ladders”—fires that start with highly flammable dry or dead vegetation, spread to a tree, then pass embers through the wind. According to Captain Erik Scott, Angelenos can subdue the upcoming fire season by cutting back or removing dead or dry vegetation in their yards.
Fundamentally, these incipient water restrictions are, in many respects, test runs for what’s to come. If they work, great. If not, all Californians can expect widespread, institutionalized drought restriction as early as September, according to the Newsom administration. Though the administration has been sympathetic, if not unctuous, to localized mandates, the latest statewide conservation figures amplify the insufficiency of the status-quo: Californians in May saved only 3.1% more water as measured against the same month in 2020, the baseline year used by the State Water Board. Preliminary figures for June indicate continued improvement that, nevertheless, remains far lower than what is necessary as the hottest months of the year bear down on the State.
The issue with cumulative statistics, much like localized mandates themselves, is the vast disjuncture between the climate praxis of each town or city. The obvious conclusion, as Newsom announced after his failed call for Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 15% last July (reduction efforts amounted to only 3.7%), “We have voluntary reductions in this state, some parts of the state are exceeding the voluntary numbers, other parts of the state haven’t.” As California moves into its third year of what some experts call a “megadrought,” there is little time for dissevered responses to the climate catastrophe within the same state and circumstance.
Until bureaucracy catches up, Californians should consider, or reconsider the MWD’s Turf Replacement Program. The rebate program offers $2 a square foot for up to 5,000 square feet of lawn converted to a sustainable, native garden. The rebate extends to spaces as large as 50,000 feet for commercial spaces. If you need extra motivation, the MWD often partners with local agencies who offer an additional rebate; this could mean bigger payoffs at greater convenience. As Rebecca Kimitch, a MWD spokesperson, told the Los Angeles Times, “People can let their lawns die this summer and then start planting [sustainable native plants] in the fall or winter when cooler temperatures and seasonal rains make it easier for plants to settle into their new surroundings.”
Drought tolerant plants approved by the MWD vary from lawn substitutes such as clustered field sedge and thingrass, to native flowers like blueblossom ceanothus and royal penstemons. For more check out the California Native Plant Society.