Some concerns about the Los Angeles water restriction plan

July 13, 12:35 PMBackyard Living ExaminerJane Gates

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The Los Angeles water restriction plan (Cartoon by Jane Gates)

There are several concerns arising with the water restriction plan put into effect in Los Angeles. Although water use must be reduced from the current consumption levels, there are some aspects of the 20x02x20 Water Conservation Plan that should be revisited.

The California Landscape Contractors Association has submitted a letter to the 20x20x20 Water Conservation Plan voicing concerns about focusing watering on the same two days each week. The letter points out that property owners are now more likely to over-water during those two days to try to compensate for the lack of watering on the other five days. This would lead to even more waste as excess water washes away. Another point is that day based water restrictions fail to consider the actual weather conditions (other than actual rain) and may force watering on days that are less ideal than other days. A third point observes that conservation oriented rate structures would be much more likely to encourage people to water wisely.

Other issues that are problematic are that by limiting watering dates and sprinklering duration, the advantages of ecologically engineered smart irrigation systems and low volume sprinkler heads are lost. For example, a low volume sprinkler head may only deliver a quarter of the water used by a conventional sprinkler head. To allow the water to penetrate slowly and deeply rather than washing off, the water needs to stay on for double the time of other sprinkler heads. The result will end up using half the water without waste. But if the low volume heads cannot stay on for adequate time, the whole concept will fail.

Hopefully, there will be amendments made to rectify the problems with the Los Angeles water restriction plan soon to make it more effective and successful.