Ad Campaign Will Discourage Over-Watering of Lawns

Amid a Southern California heat wave, the Metropolitan Water District has launched a conservation campaign aimed at urging people not to over-water lawns and plants.

“Our focus is to try to make people conscious about how we use water outdoors,” said Adan Ortega, a district spokesman.

“We’re loving our plants to death by over-watering them,” Ortega said.

Excessive watering is especially harmful because the region is experiencing its driest year in history, Ortega said.

Although Southern California is not in a drought, the record low amount of rain has raised concerns about supplies.

Officials stress, however, that the region has enough water reserves to see it through three dry years, if necessary.

“The idea now is to keep our reserves high,” Ortega said.

The focus on outdoor water waste is a slight shift from the tactics used during the early 1990s, when officials urged people to reduce indoor water use by replacing inefficient toilets and turning off faucets while brushing teeth.

Newspaper advertisements and television, radio and movie spots will appear in the coming weeks. Slogans will include “Don’t drown your plants” and “Conservation can be beautiful,” Ortega said.

The ads will direct people to the district’s Web site, www.mwdh2o.org, for tips on how to save water and keep lawns and plants alive.

The site also offers information about how to create an attractive landscape using native Southern California plants, which need less water than popular nonnative varieties such as ivies and ice plants, Ortega said.

The average resident could save $225 a year by not over-watering.

“We’d save enough water to supply a medium-sized city like San Diego,” he said.