2-Day A Week Watering Schedule Goes Into Effect In Simi Valley
SIMI VALLEY (CBSLA) — The city of Simi Valley has adopted a residential watering schedule in response to the ongoing drought across California.
Simi Valley has adopted a Level 2 Water Supply Shortage condition that calls for mandatory conservation actions. As of Nov. 1, residents will be limited to a two-day a week watering schedule, based on their street address. Officials felt the need to take action because the city is nowhere near the 15% conservation level that the state of California is asking for.
Residents whose street address end in even numbers can water on Sundays and Wednesdays, and street addresses that end in odd numbers can do so on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Some of those residents are willing to do what it takes to help with the shortage, even letting their well-tended after gardens suffer. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some aren't as willing to have "drought-friendly" yards.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last month expanded a drought emergency declaration to all of the state, including Ventura County, which had been excluded from the original emergency declaration. However, water conservation efforts have fallen short statewide, even as California has recorded its driest year in nearly a century.
Wanda Moyer, the Simi Valley Water Conservation Program Coordinator, issued a further explanation for the watering schedule:
"We're at mandatory irrigation days because up to 70% of residential water use in Simi Valley is for outdoor irrigation. ... Our supplies originate in Northern CA in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains.We don't have the diversified water portfolio that a lot of communities enjoy and so we will not have those other options to us. It's very serious."
Pasadena was one of the first cities in Southern California to adopt new watering restrictions.
Besides the new watering schedule, the city of Simi Valley also raised its turf removal rebate to $3 per square foot, but projects must remove a minimum of 250 square feet of front yard turf and be replaced with a drought-tolerant or rainwater-friendly landscapes, such as a rock garden, a dry river bed, or berm. City officials say 70% of water use in Simi Valley is for residential landscape irrigation.
