PWD customers saving water
Agency on path to meet mandated reductions
PALMDALE — Nearly two months into new water use restrictions, Palmdale Water District customers are saving water and well on the way to meeting the state-mandated reductions.
With continuing drought conditions in California, the state is requiring a reduction of 20% of water use from a 2020 baseline.
During May, the first month that mandatory water use restrictions were in effect, Palmdale Water District customers cut their water use by roughly 17%, in a month-to-month comparison, with May 2022 to May 2020, General Manager Dennis LaMoreaux said.
“We don’t know the numbers, for June, yet … but it’s looking in the same ballpark,” he said.
The mandatory restrictions, which went into effect, May 1, include limiting outdoor watering to three days a week look to be having an impact on customers’ habits.
“They seem to be paying attention to the call for conservation. It also helps there’s a broader call for conservation” across Southern California, LaMoreaux said. “They’re not just hearing it from us; they’re hearing it from a variety of agencies.”
Enforcement of the restrictions began, on May 1, and so far the water use efficiency team have handed out 497 warning notices to customers that have violated the restrictions, Resource and Analytics Supervisor Claudia Bolanos said.
“Right now all we’re doing are warnings,” she said. “We want to let our customers know that we are in a drought, that we are implementing these new regulations.”
Primarily, enforcement entails the team systematically covering the District to look for those who are watering on the wrong days or times.
The next step will be to levy fines for violations, possibly as soon as next week.
These fines start at $50 on the second notice of a violation, $250 for a third violation and $500 for the fourth. At the fifth violation, the water might be shut off.
“We do everything we can
to reach them” with notices that they are in violation of the restrictions, including door hangers, letters and phone calls, she said.
“Most of our customers are really good,” Bolanos said.
It helps that the District began an informational campaign, in April 2021, with voluntary restrictions in place.
“Since then, we have seen an increase of our customers taking advantage” of programs, she said.
To help customers be water-wise, the District offers several programs, including rebates for water-saving devices and grants for converting landscapes to xeriscaping.
Since April 2021, the District gave out 120 toilet rebates, 55 washer rebates, 40 smart irrigation controller rebates and 68 grants for landscape conversions.
“That’s pretty good once you see how much water’s being saved,” Bolanos said.
Since the restrictions became mandatory, the District has received applications for the landscape conversion program from customers with lush landscaping that they are replacing.
All of these programs remain available, with additional funding, this year.
“We want them to take advantage of them,” Bolanos said.
Anyone interested in taking advantage of these programs may call the water use team at 661-947-4111, Ext. 5002.
“We want to really inform our customers, give them tools that they need to conserve,” she said. “We definitely want to walk side-by-side with them.”
The District’s water supply includes State Water Project water carried from Northern California thorough the California Aqueduct, groundwater pumped from wells and water collected in the reservoir behind the Littlerock Dam.
So far this year, the District has been primarily using the water from Littlerock Dam, thanks to December rains that nearly filled the reservoir. While the District has begun to use some State Water Project water, it expects to continue using from the reservoir, through July.
“That’s been a real help for us this year,” LaMoreaux said.