Mayor Garcetti and LADWP Highlight Ways to Save Money and Water as Summer Months Approach

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Eric Garcetti today joined the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to announce new snowpack readings from the Eastern Sierras – a critical water source for Los Angeles – and highlight LADWP resources available to help Angelenos save more water.

The new Sierra readings suggest that, overall, California snowpack has reached about 87 percent of the average. This is enough to give Northern California the amount of water it normally receives. But Los Angeles’ water supply from the Eastern Sierras, where the snowpack is only 70 percent of normal, will fall short of the average. This, combined with low rainfall and slow recovery of groundwater levels, will require more conservation efforts across the City.

LA already cut its water use by 19 percent– significant progress toward the ambitious conservation goals laid out in Mayor Garcetti’s Sustainability pLAn (pLAn) and his Executive Directive 5 (ED5). But with summer approaching, conservation in Los Angeles continues to be important.

“In the last year, millions of Angelenos have stepped up and conserved a tremendous amount of water,” said Mayor Garcetti. “But we must continue to save. That’s why we are offering LADWP incentives to help Angelenos save money as they save water. Our turf removal and water efficiency upgrade programs help to conserve water now, and protect LA’s water supply for the future.”

LADWP offers incentives and rebates on a wide variety of water-saving upgrades. These include turf replacement rebates at $1.75 per square foot; rain barrel rebates at $100 per barrel; $400 rebates for cisterns; $100 rebates for premium high-efficiency toilets; $300 rebates for high-efficiency clothes-washers; and various free high-efficiency faucet aerators and shower-heads.

“This El Nino was not the Godzilla we had hoped for,” LADWP Assistant General Manager Marty Adams said. “There is always a chance for late season rains, and we welcome that possibility. But the bottom line is – we can’t take this valuable resource for granted. We must continue to conserve. We encourage all Angelenos to look at the water-saving rebates available to them at LADWP.com/wc.”

ED5 targets a 20 percent reduction water use by 2017 and the pLAn targets a 50 percent reduction in imported water use by 2025. Since the announcement of these goals in October 2014, Los Angeles has reduced its water consumption by 24 gallons per capita per day and the City is on track to meet the goal of 20 percent reduction by 2017.

To take advantage of LADWP’s residential water-saving rebate programs, visit www.LADWP.com/wc

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