Burbank residents get an extra day of watering after council modifies ordinance
Burbank City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to step down to a modified form of stage II and eventually stage I of its conservation plan.
After a year of heavy water conservation, the Burbank City Council agreed to modify its sustainable water-use ordinance to allow three days of landscape watering.
Since June 2015, the city was in stage III of its water plan, which limited residents to watering their lawns to only two days a week during the months of April through October. However, an executive order issued by Gov. Jerry Brown in May allowed agencies to adjust their water-use restrictions to reflect more long-term solutions to the drought, said Bill Mace, assistant general manager of water systems for Burbank Water and Power.
Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to step down to a modified form of stage II and eventually stage I of its conservation plan. Stage II originally restricted landscape watering to no more than 15 minutes at a time and no more than three days a week from April through October and no more than once a week from November through March.
I think allowing us a little bit of flexibility, especially in this hot weather we’re experiencing, I think it goes to address some of the concerns our community has had.
— Burbank City Councilman David Gordon
However, the dais agreed to immediately allow landscape watering three days a week — Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — throughout the year instead of seasonally. The city will remain in stage II until the changes to stage I are approved.
Though the city is in its second stage of the water plan, it has its sights on going down to a modified form of stage I. The City Council also unanimously supported changes to the first tier of the conservation plan that will move the watering restriction of three days a week from stage II to stage I.
The modification to stage I also specifies ornamental turf on center medians cannot be watered, unless they use recycled water, which the city does.
State I currently has no watering restrictions, but asks residents to not water their landscape after a rainy day or while the sun is out, not to use water to wash down driveways or sideways and to repair any leaking plumbing or irrigation systems.
The changes to the first tier of the water plan will need to be approved again during its second reading at a future meeting.
“It’s not that we won’t practice conservation or seek conservation ways of life, but I don’t necessarily want to be shackled by the state for no good reason based on their own regulations,” Mace said.
Councilman David Gordon thanked the employees of Burbank Water and Power for their assistance in the conservation efforts and for determining that the city would still meet state conservation standards by adopting a three-days-a-week option instead of restricting residents to two days a week of watering.
“Most people in the community understand the need for conservation, regardless of the quantity of water we have on supply,” Gordon said. “I think allowing us a little bit of flexibility, especially in this hot weather we’re experiencing, I think it goes to address some of the concerns our community has had.”
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
