CVWD to discuss additional water-saving measures
The Coachella Valley Water District’s board of directors is holding a special meeting to consider options for achieving the state water conservation mandate, including the possibility of committing more money for rebate programs and increasing water waste enforcement and drought penalties.
District officials said the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, October 26 at the Steve Robbins Administration Building, located at 75515 Hovley Lane East in Palm Desert. They wanted to hold the meeting at night to allow more people to attend and provide input.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, the board heard a staff report about conservation efforts and heard from interested members of the public about possible courses of action, according to the release. The state is requiring CVWD to reduce overall domestic water use by 36% when compared to the same month in 2013 or face penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
The state considers a month-to-month rolling average when evaluating a district’s conservation efforts. CVWD customers saved 21.3% in June, 40.6% in July 26.5% in August, and 16.4% less water in September. The average over the four-month period is 26.2%, according to officials.
Up to this point, CVWD has asked customers to limit water use to 36% below their monthly outdoor water budget. This new, temporary drought budget rewards customers who have already taken steps to significantly reduce water use, such as replacing grass with desert landscaping, because they will likely already be below this threshold.
Customers who fail to limit outdoor water use are subject to drought penalties. Officials said these penalties went into effect with July bills and about 76% of CVWD customers are meeting the new drought budgets.
Officials said conservation successes include the popularity of CVWD’s turf rebate program. District customers have removed about 6.6 million square feet of grass since the program started.
CVWD in September:
Installed 45 residential smart controllers and rebated 50 large landscape controllers
Approved 277,884 square feet of turf removal
Conducted plan check on 30 landscape plans
Issued 56 toilet rebates
Contacted 50 customers in high tiers
Completed eight water broom/pre-rinse nozzle conversions
Contacted 6,231 customers and completed 336 site visits
Investigated 104 water waste complaints
The Coachella Valley Water District serves approximately 108,000 residential and business customers across 1,000 square miles, located primarily in Riverside County, but also in portions of Imperial and San Diego counties.
News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 will follow any new developments pending the outcome of the special meeting on October 26.
