Utilities Pour Conservation Effort Into Slowing the Flow of Water

With a drought extending into a fourth year, the Los Angeles Basin’s four major municipal utilities have emphasized saving water more than conserving power in recent years.

“We think conservation is important, and we work hard at it,” said Walter Hoye, director of water engineering for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “We are very concerned about getting that snowpack built up this winter.”

The department spent about $4 million last year on advertisements and educational materials promoting conservation and on more than 1 million low-flow shower heads distributed to homes. The DWP also has a program that requires owners of large lots to reduce the amount of water used on landscaping or face fines; new buildings are required to install low-flow toilets that use as little as half the amount of water of regular toilets.

The DWP is the only major municipal utility in the Los Angeles Basin large enough to have a separate department to promote water conservation. Each of the three other utilities combines water and power conservation efforts.

Hoye estimated that the DWP had managed to reduce water usage by about 4% as a result of its various programs. Although the number of water customers is on the rise, Hoye said, the amount of water flowing out through the city’s sewers has leveled off.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District, the agency responsible for bringing in water from the Colorado River and Northern California, last year began providing local water agencies with financial incentives for conserving water.

Through its Water Conservation Credits Program, the water district will pay the agencies as much as 50% of the cost of a water conservation project or $75 for each acre-foot of water saved, whichever is less. An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre to a depth of one foot, about 326,000 gallons.

Neither Glendale nor Burbank has taken advantage of that program. The city of Pasadena recently began a program to distribute faucet aerators, low-flow shower heads and toilet dams to 37,000 residences. The city plans to spend $800,000 on the program but will receive a $325,000 rebate from the water district.

Mariann Long, Pasadena’s conservation director, said the program should save about 4,980 acre-feet of water over a five-year period. The city, which draws about 40% of its water from local wells, also has structured its rates to penalize waste: the first 100 cubic feet of water used each month costs half as much as any water used above that amount.

Ed Cameron, general manager of Glendale’s Public Service Department, said the city encourages water conservation in pamphlets sent to customers and in speeches and appearances by department employees.

In addition, the department is working on a water conservation ordinance that, in times of severe drought, would prohibit water from being used for such non-essential activities as hosing off sidewalks. The ordinance would also require customers to cut their usage.

“We feel we are getting quite involved in water conservation . . . here,” Cameron said.

The person employed as a conservation coordinator by the Burbank Public Service Department has pushed water saving in special comic books and pamphlets, especially aimed at schools. “We’ve been really strong in sending the message out that it should be a way of life and that we should always be aware of the scarcity of resources,” General Manager Ron Stassi said.