On March 28, Gov. Gavin Newsom called upon water agencies in the state to activate Drought Response Plans to higher levels of water restriction to mitigate the long-term drought in the state. According to the Sweetwater Authority, its customers are already meeting the 20 percent water reduction associated with the higher levels of the DRP.
“The Authority’s long-term investments in local water supplies are continuing to show value for our community,” said Chair Alejandra Sotelo-Solis in a press release. “The Governing Board would like to thank Authority customers for their continued efforts to use water efficiently and wisely. Paired with our diverse local water supply, our service area continues to use the least amount of water of any other agency in San Diego County and we are proud of our customers.”
Authority Program Manager Dan Hayes said with its customers, water efficiency is more of a way of life and they have been conserving water for quite some time.
“That includes replacing their yards and turf replacement with drought tolerant and native California plants,” he said. “We were at Mr. Rodriguez’s home this morning and he said that he has not watered his landscape since mid-February, and during the spring and summer he waters it once every three weeks.
Chula Vista residents Paul and Bernice Rodriguez are the 2021 Sweetwater Authority WaterSmart Landscape Contest winners.
Hayes said that Rodriguez’s landscaping is extremely efficient, and that many of its customers are conservative with their water use, replacing toilets, faucets, and showerheads.
“It is something that is part of their day-to-day life,” he said. “In doing so, we are meeting the governor’s recommendation of 20% reduction.”
Authority Program Specialist Doug Roberts said its department is the primary department that works with water conservation, performs WaterSmart checkups, handles high bills, people with issues with people who cannot find a leak, who do not know what to do with their yard with landscaping, providing them with education.
Roberts said it is now holding its California Landscape Contest going on right now with the deadline for entries is set for May 13.
“Typically, we get a handful of submissions each year, and we also ask our meter readers and our folks in the field, that if they do come in contact with a nice yard that is drought tolerant and well-designed, we ask them to give us that address and we will go out and ask them if they are interested in entering,” he said. “Most people are very appreciative of that recognition, even if they do not enter the contest.”
Roberts said the best tips for customers is that if they have a landscape and using a traditional water controller, our best advice is to learn your water irrigation controller.
“Many times, customers rely heavily on their landscape contractors, but we tell customers that they are paying for the service, and you are also paying for the water bill,” he said.
“Get familiar with your water controller, learn how to change the settings, and do visual inspections, as many times with pedestrian and children traffic on bikes, skateboards, they break off the head.”
Hayes said the Authority has a rebate for weather-based water controllers, which has default settings for historic weather patterns based on zip codes and some come with an antenna that takes humidity, wind, radiant heat, then calculates based on the input that you provide.
“You can do this yourself,” he said. “Most of them have become user friendly over the past couple of years, you can tie them in with your smartphone, but if you want a really good one, I suggest going to an irrigation supply house.”
Roberts said the team often goes into the field when customers call and say that they do not know what to do in their homes and yards to make sure that they are as water efficient as possible.
Bernice Rodriguez said the beauty about their garden is that it attracts so many animals and insects.
“It is just a thrill to see it all in action,” she said. “I think that it is nice that we have something blooming every season.”
Paul Rodriguez said the “ambiance” of their yard is now relaxing and a joy to watch all the activity that the plants bring to their home.
“We get songbirds, bees, butterflies, tarantula hawk wasps,” he said. “When the buckwheat is in bloom, I get a chair and just sit down and watch it all. It is just amazing. The neighbors say there is much more bee activity and I like to say we have a rest stop on our block that attracts insects. The landscape has its own seasons. Most plants bloom in the spring and early summer, so this is like the majestic time of it. In summer, many plants go dormant, that is why I have a lot of evergreen shrubs.”
