California's Water Crisis

This year, California is facing one of the most sever droughts on record. With all of the public information campaigns throughout the state, we’re sure you’ve heard of the severity of the drought and how you can help save water. Whether you’re a homeowner or business owner in the South Bay, there’s always a way for you to help conserve water.

If you own a home, installing high-efficiency toilets and washing machines will help save countless gallons of precious water. California currently has a rebate program being offered to those residential and commercial customers that make the switch to high-efficiency appliances. Rebates for washers start from $85 and are dependent on the brand and efficiency. Installing a high-efficiency clothes washer ensures that you’ll be using 55% less water than a standard washer. If you’re also installing a high-efficiency toilet, rebates are starting from $100 per toilet.

If you have a lawn, installing a weather-based irrigation controller can save over 13,500 gallons of water a year! Rotating sprinkler nozzles also help save water by using 20% less water than a conventional nozzle. Although rain seems far and scarce lately, installing rain barrels is a great way of saving and reusing rainwater throughout the year (also eligible for a rebate).

For those homeowners that are willing and open to giving up their turf for more water-friendly plants and landscaping, there’s a $2 rebate per square foot of turf that’s removed. The rebate used to be $1 per square foot but was doubled back in May in order to persuade more homeowners to make the switch. The efforts have been working with requests for turf removal increasing by 2.5 million square feet back in July.

Visitors to bewaterwise.com, the online drought information and rebate website also increased, practically quintupling between the months of January and July. Despite the 500,000 person population growth since 2006, Southern California’s demand for water has dropped 15% compared to the last drought from 2006-07.

Despite the communities efforts to save water, California’s water scarcity is still very much an area of concern. If you own a home in the South Bay or plan to own in the near future, please visit http://socalwatersmart.com for rebate and water saving tips.