La Bahia

Broken sprinkler heads that allow water to flow into the street or watering lawns in the middle of the day are just some of the water-waste restrictions adopted in Palm Springs as the city becomes the first community in the Coachella Valley to enact a sweeping water conservation ordinance that both restricts water use and rewards conservation.

"I think this is really a landmark moment for the city," said Palm Springs City Councilman Paul Lewin, on Wednesday as the council adopted its new water conservation ordinance.

The move comes as the region and state face one of the deepest droughts in at least 100 years, and the governor's office along with water agencies have called for significant water use reductions.

However, the changes approved by the council are not temporary responses to the drought, but are meant to be a fundamental reconfigured approach to water-use that will not go away after a rainy season.

"What we're going to do tonight is make this permanent and change our relationship with water," said Lewin.

The ordinance calls for no watering lawns from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Drip irrigation systems are exempt.) And cars must be washed with a hose with a shut-off nozzle. These are some of the measures taken to prevent, what the ordinance describes as "water-waste."

"Until tonight there was no law against turning your garden hose on and running it in the gutter," said Lewin.

Enforcement of the new ordinance will come largely through the city's code enforcement department.

DESERTSUN

Water in the Desert

"In most cases, it's just going to be us knocking on the door," said David Ready, Palm Springs city manager, adding there will be times when the Desert Water Agency could be included in enforcement for particularly large and egregious offenders.

The hope is that much of the enforcement will come first through education, say council members.

"I don't want us to have a home-owner revolt. I want us to bring the public along," said Lewin.

Reducing outdoor watering is a central goal of the ordinance, which doubles incentives for home-owners from $500 to $1,000 for turf-removal projects. For HOAs and commercial properties, the grants increase from $2,500 to $5,000. This program is offered in conjunction with the DWA's new turf conversion incentive program, where projects will be eligible for a $2 per square foot rebate up to $3,000 for residential and $10,000 per project for commercial and public property, according to the DWA program guidelines.

The DWA program applies to front-yard grass removal. The city's turf removal program can be applied to any part of the yard, officials point out.

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