LA plans to impose twice weekly landscape watering limit

By JOHN ANTCZAK
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city of Los Angeles plans to require residents and businesses to reduce outdoor landscape watering from three days per week to two as California’s drought deepens, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday.

The planned restriction for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers is less severe than a recent decision by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California requiring some customers it supplies to cut watering to once weekly.

The Los Angeles restriction is expected to take effect June 1 after receiving anticipated City Council approval.

Garcetti said Los Angeles can be less restrictive than the other water district because to ongoing efforts by its nearly 4 million residents to conserve water.

“We are using a little bit less water today than we were more than 30 years ago with a million more people,” Garcetti told reporters.

Garcetti still urged homeowners to replace thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping.

While the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is a municipal utility, the Metropolitan Water District is essentially a giant wholesaler that supplies 26 public water agencies that provide water to 19 million people.

The Metropolitan Water District’s one-day-a-week watering limitation will affect about 6 million residents and businesses.

State water authorities were scheduled to hold a briefing about California’s drought outlook Tuesday afternoon.