Local News in Brief : Caltrans Water Plan

The California Department of Transportation, the biggest landscape owner in the state, will decrease the water it pours on its freeway foliage and use treated sewage in some areas in an effort to save 1.5 billion gallons of water this year.

The savings amounts to enough water to supply 25,000 people for one year, Caltrans landscape architect Bill Koval said in Los Angeles. The plans are important “because we are a very large user of water and we have very strong feelings about conserving water,” he said.

In addition, the state will begin increasing the use of drought-tolerant plants as another measure to battle the critical water shortage the state is facing.

Much of the water savings will come by careful use of freeway sprinklers.