While the years-long drought has taught us all a lot about conserving water and moving to more drought-tolerant landscaping, it’s still a relief to hear that as of July 27 – thanks to our wet winter this year – the city is retreating from its more restrictive landscape water rules enacted in June, 2022, and returning to policies put into place in 2009…which means LADWP customers are now once again allowed to water their yards three days a week instead of just two.
In a notice to customers this morning, LADWP writes:
“After observing two-days-a-week outdoor watering restrictions for the past thirteen months, all Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) customers can begin watering their outdoor landscapes for up to three-days-a-week with the return to the City’s Phase 2 Emergency Water Conservation Ordinance (Ordinance), effective July 27, 2023.”
The notice says the two-day-a-week rule was LADWP’s response to last year’s statewide water emergency, which also limited water supply deliveries from the Bay Delta and Colorado River. But “after experiencing a record snowpack created by the unprecedented amount of precipitation earlier this year, the Mayor and City Council have approved LADWP’s recommendation to revert back to three-days-a-week outdoor watering.”
“We want to thank our customers for continuing to lead on conservation and helping us exceed our water conservation goals,” Anselmo Collins, LADWP Senior Assistant General Manager of the Water System, said in the statement. “Over the past year, Angelenos reduced their water use an additional 10%, which is a remarkable achievement considering this was on top of the substantial long-term water conservation our customers had already achieved.”
As always, the specific days you are allowed to water are still determined by your street address. Those “ending in odd-numbers may water on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and customers with even-numbered street addresses may water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m., when the evaporation rate is appreciably lower than during the middle of the day.”
Also, as always, including during last year’s statewide emergency, “hand watering is allowed every day before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. if the hose is equipped with a self-closing water shut-off device.”
But other restrictions remain in place. According to LADWP:
- Limit outdoor watering with sprinklers to eight minutes per station on permitted watering days
- Watering with sprinklers using water-conserving nozzles is permitted for up to 15 minutes, twice a day, on the permitted watering day
- No water should flow off of your property
- No water should leak from any pipe or fixture
- No watering within 48 hours after a measurable rain event
- No hosing of driveway or sidewalk
- No washing of vehicles using a hose without a self-closing nozzle
- Customers can visit ladwp.com/wateringdays to learn more about current watering restrictions.
And, yes, there could still be penalties for violations.
“LADWP’s Water Conservation Response Unit (Water CRU) will continue to patrol the streets of Los Angeles to educate Angelenos on the days of the week watering restrictions and to enforce the Ordinance,” said the statement. “Members of the public can report water waste to the Water CRU by visiting ladwp.com/waterwaste and filling out a form online.”
And LADWP also continues to urge customers to conserve water in many other ways, including via many rebates and incentive programs:
- $5-per-square-foot turf replacement rebate for residential and commercial customers,
- $500 high-efficiency clothes washer rebate,
- $250 high-efficiency toilet rebates, and
- Technical assistance program incentive of up to $2 million for commercial customers to perform customized water saving improvements at their facilities.
Finally, “LADWP also offers a substantial discount for the purchase of a Flume device, a smart home water monitoring device that attaches directly to the customer’s water meter, which delivers real-time water usage data to the customer’s smartphone or tablet via a downloaded app.”
“We encourage all Angelenos to keep saving water wherever possible,” said Collins, “while we continue to invest in developing our local water supplies to adapt to our changing climate.”
For more information and water-saving resources, see:
LADWP Residential Rebates: ladwp.com/save
LADWP Commercial Rebates: ladwp.com/cwr
Know your watering days: ladwp.com/wateringdays
To report water waste: ladwp.com/waterwaste
The latest LADWP news: ladwpnews.com
