KING CITY — As the drought intensifies, local water utility California Water Service (Cal Water) is helping customers save water every day through expanded water conservation programs and educational resources.
These programs and resources include newly launched lawn-to-garden and spray-to-drip rebates, which offer incentives for Cal Water customers to make their landscaping and irrigation systems as efficient as possible.
Cal Water’s lawn-to-garden program offers a rebate of $3 per square foot of lawn removed and replaced with low-water use landscaping. The spray-to-drip program provides a rebate of $0.50 per square foot of landscaping converted from a standard spray irrigation system to a drip system, as drip irrigation uses 20 to 50% less water compared to sprinklers.
“We partnered with King City customers and businesses to achieve impressive water savings during the last drought,” said Gary Vincelet, King City Local Manager. “Now, we are offering even more support for King City customers to reduce their water use as we face increasingly serious drought conditions.”
These incentives are in addition to Cal Water’s existing industry-leading conservation programs to help save water every day, including:
• Rebates on high-efficiency appliances and devices, with certain rebates recently doubled;
• A smart landscape tune-up program that includes an irrigation system evaluation along with installation of efficient devices and repair of most irrigation leaks at no cost to customers; and
• A free conservation kit that includes a garden hose nozzle with shutoff valve, high-efficiency showerheads, faucet aerators, and more for residential customers.
In addition, Cal Water encourages customers to follow its easy dos and don’ts of water conservation.
DO:
• Check for broken sprinkler heads and hidden leaks once per month;
• Install a Smart Irrigation Controller that automatically adjusts to weather conditions;
• Check if your lawn is thirsty before watering; and
• Repair leaks within five days of notification.
DON’T:
• Use water on outdoor landscaping that causes runoff onto adjacent properties or paved areas;
• Use a hose to wash vehicles unless the hose has a shutoff nozzle or similar device;
• Irrigate outdoors between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., unless local ordinances state otherwise; and
• Use water in a fountain or other decorative water feature, except where part of a recirculating system.
Program details and additional information can be found on calwater.com/conservation. The utility will continue to monitor conditions in King City and implement any additional actions based on ongoing supply and demand assessments, according to Vincelet.
Cal Water serves about 123,200 people through 31,600 service connections in the Salinas Valley and about 2 million people through 492,600 service connections in California.
