Garcetti Issues Ambitious Drought Directive For L.A.

Oct. 14, 2014 — With the state grappling with record drought, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti today issued an executive directive to dramatically reduce the use of fresh water and the purchase of costly imported water in California’s most populous city.

Flanked by Heal the Bay policy director Kirsten James and other local environmental leaders at a press conference at DWP headquarters, Garcetti laid out ambitious targets for increasing local water supplies.

The mayor’s directive requires a reduction in fresh water use by 20% by 2017 and in the DWP’s purchase of imported water by 50% by 2024. Garcetti estimated that reducing per capita water use by 20% would save ratepayers up to $120 million annually.

“Our relationship with water must evolve. We cannot afford the water policies of the past,” Garcetti said. “We must conserve, recycle and rethink how we use our water to save money and make sure that we have enough water to keep L.A. growing.”

Through the directive, Garcetti is ordering city departments to sharply cut water use by reducing watering and replacing lawns or other water-intensive landscaping at city facilities, street medians and sidewalk parkways.  For example, city-run golf courses and car-washing operations will be moved aggressively toward 100% use of recycled water.

With the 8-million gallon water main break at UCLA still fresh in many residents’ minds, the mayor directed the DWP to report back with an enhanced leak detection and protection program to reduce loss and main breakages in the city’s aging pipe system.

The new rules sweeten city incentives to help L.A. residents cut back on their water use, including an increase in the DWP’s turf replacement incentive to $3.75 per square foot. Outdoor water use remains the major challenge for household water use, representing 50% of residential consumption.

The mayor also asked residents to:

• voluntarily reduce watering to two days a week
• to use DWP rebates to install low water landscaping and more efficient plumbing fixtures and appliances
• to ensure pools are covered to reduce water lost to evaporation

If targets are not met through the combination of mandatory city actions and voluntary resident actions, residential mandates will be implemented, including new watering, swimming pool and car washing restrictions.

In addition, the directive creates the Mayor’s Water Cabinet, which will be chaired by Deputy Mayor Doane Liu and includes the city’s first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer, Matt Petersen, and representatives from the DWP, Bureau of Sanitation, Recreation and Parks, the Metropolitan Water District and the city’s Proposition O Citizens Oversight Advisory Committee.

The Mayor’s Water Cabinet will be responsible for ensuring city departments hit targets outlined in the directive and will focus on long-term initiatives to ensure long-term sustainability of L.A.’s water supply, including:

• Increasing the local water supply through an integrated water strategy that coordinates groundwater remediation, stormwater capture and storage, green infrastructure, recycled water, and conservation
• Assessing the current tiered water rate system and identifying ways to improve it so that it optimally encourages conservation and local water use.
• Ensuring L.A. is in a leadership position on state rules and regulations related to water use.

 Heal the Bay’s policy team looks forward to working with the mayor and his Water Cabinet to achieve these aggressive goals. There are several connection points between improved local water supply and the health of the Bay.

For example, our staff continues to push for multi-use water projects that can help us capture the 10 million gallons of runoff that flow through L.A. stormdrains each day into the ocean during dry weather. Instead of dumping polluted runoff into the sea, we should be capturing, treating and reusing that water. The potential benefits are even greater during a rainstorm, which can send a 10 billion gallon torrent into the sea each day.

Please visit www.lamayor.org/drought for more conservation tips and rebate information.

                                           City golf courses are now mandated to use 85% recycled water