BEVERLY HILLS—The Beverly Hills City Council voted on September 23 that residents with low water usage from the mandatory 10 percent reduction that was recently put into place. According to a press release from the City of BH, the exemption affects single-family and multifamily Tier 1 water customers who will face difficulty implementing further reductions.
The reduction has been put in place to combat the severe state-wide drought, which the City Council voted on in early September with the emergency water conservation ordinance. The ordinance includes a mandatory 10 percent reduction and a penalty surcharge for water usage that goes beyond the 90 percent baseline allocation.
Details regarding the baseline is still be mapped out and the billing system will be adjusted to implement penalty surcharges. People will be alerted before the surcharges are put into effect.
- Restaurants shall serve water upon request only
- All public restrooms in the City and private bathrooms in hotels shall notify patrons and employees of water conservation goals.
- Plumbing and irrigation leaks shall be repaired within seven days of notification to water customers. Water usage shall be reduced to ninety percent (90%) of the baseline year amount.
Residents are also restricted from runoff from outdoor sprinklers and using a water hose to clear leaves and debris from driveways, sidewalks and streets. Utilizing drinking water from non-circulating fountains is also prohibited.
The City has implemented specific times and days of the week for residents to have fixed watering days. Residents living north of Santa Monica Boulevard should water their gardens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Residents south of Santa Monica should water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Watering should be done between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Watering is prohibited on Sundays. The City has warned that mandatory watering days could be imposed at a later notice if conservation goals are not achieved.
“Irrigation of residential landscaping accounts for 60% – 70% of the annual water usage in the City and is where the most savings can be achieved with simple changes in watering practices,” states the press release. Beverly Hillshas an automated leak detection program that warns residents of a leak on their property. For information on rebates and how to track your water consumption, go to www.beverlyhills.org/waterconservation. To learn of ways to save reduce water usage visit the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) website at www.bewaterwise.com.
For those who install weather-based irrigation controllers, rotating sprinkler nozzles, soil moisture sensors and for replacing grass with drought-tolerant plants, rebates are being offered by the MWD. Rebates also apply to high-efficiency washing machines and toilets.
