I have mostly drought tolerant and natives in anyway and I would like to tear up some lawn someday.
I hope they fine my neighbors for trying to get their cement to grow and hosing down their driveway for every little speck of debris. It's always breezy here so there is always something lying around.
I agree the historic use isn't a way to do it completely.

I don't have major plans to change my watering practices nor do I plan to let my newest (not-yet-established) plants die. The front yard doesn't have a lawn and I deep-water my plants every few weeks. Unfortunately I didn't plant natives in the front but I believe it's still a relatively water-wise yard compared to the general neighborhood yard.

Our back yard has a very small dwarf tall fescue lawn that doesn't require a lot of water, either. Most of the back is moderate to low water plants and I deep water them every few weeks as well.

I'm tired of seeing neighbors water their lawns every other day and allow most of the water to flow down the gutter. Several have either re-seeded or re-done their sprinklers this year, so I expect that conserving water isn't in the forefront of their minds.

I don't know what to expect from the declaration of drought conditions but relying on historic use does seem skewed.

Are you prepared to cut back on water use?

I have been, but now I wonder what period will be used for historic usage.

Do you already have a low water use garden or accurate irrigation practices in place?

I'm working on it. It's a challenge to find California natives with our mild summers, lots of shade, and a small yard. No lawn because its' too shady, so no fight with hubby about ripping one out. I'm mulching, especially where we have a little seasonal sun, and I use the polymer crystals in my container plantings for my vertical gardening. Captured shower water goes to the tree fuchsias as a supplement to the regular watering -- I have to keep the hummingbirds happy.

Now about the two different neighbors who have a paid personal car washer who comes every week...

I've been preparing for a while now. I got a low-water washing machine, I've got a rain barrel, and will install a second one this year. I'm tearing out the lawn and replacing it with "Patrick's Point" fescue (beautiful, and never needs water, but man is it hard to find!)

I water the houseplants with the water that I use to boil pasta or rinse vegetables, I dump bathwater on the new plantings, and of course I mulch. I'm dry-farming my tomatoes, too--it's surprising how little water they actually require, although I assume the yield will be much lower. I don't think I've had to use the hose yet this year!

I agree that it's not fair to penalize people who are already saving water, and I also think you have to take into account the number of people in the household--you can't ask a family of six to use the same amount of water as a household of two.

I saw this day coming, so I've mainly planted succulents. I have a few plants that need more water, but they're all in shade, so I can water them by hand. Sometimes I put my potted plants in a washtub before I water them, so any water that runs out the bottom of the pots can be scooped up and salvaged. I bought a hose-end mister to water my epiphytes in hanging baskets rather than showering them.

What I'm wondering is when will the gardening shows on TV stop hyping water features. From watching them, you get the feeling that any yard without a fake waterfall, fountain, swimming pool or koi pond is a dump.

I hope that cities are discouraging builders from installing lawns for new houses as well.

"hope that cities are discouraging builders from installing lawns for new houses as well."

Frankly, if the drought results in water rationing, they shouldn't be issuing any more building permits. It's inconsistent to say "we don't have enought water" on the one hand and then say "but we are going to build another 1000 houses in the next year" on the other hand.

Good point, Chudak.

In Long Beach, CA we have very strict water usage. The front lawn is already pretty dried up. The backyard is filled with mostly native plants and shrubs. So they don't like summer watering. The fruit trees will still need water. I do agree that we don't need any more new housing. Frankly with the mortgage crisis, there literally hundreds of empty homes now. I guess that helps in some ways because the yards will go unwatered. But what gets me is the waste of water that goes to Las Vegas. Stupid fountains that evaporate water. I don't know what they do about irrigating all those golf courses. But municipal fountains should be closed for the summer. Even private ones. They just evaporate and waste water. Even the city should be planting more drought tolerant native species in green belts and parks. The only thing I won't cut back on water is for my veggies.

Developers are already being stopped due to the predicted water shortage. According to this article a 1500 home development was just halted. Another article I read said water shortages will be the the worst problem the world faces within the next 50 years. I haven't watered my lawn in two years, and only water my fruit trees and herbs. I have too much time, effort, and money invested in them to let them die.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/07drought.html?_r=1&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

I am honestly surprised it took them this long. When growing up on the east coast, we often had to conserve water and they get alot more rain then we do. I live in Community where large green front lawns is the norm. It is ridiculous. The park we walk our dogs at is watered late in the morning and is always soggy. Despite the overwatering (or because of) There are alot of dead patches.
I have always tried to be careful. I mulch and plant low or no water use plants. I try and recycle water for my plants. I definately can do more... but am irritated that so many in our community seem unconcerned or unaware about how criticle the situation is. I think the water rationing should be based on the # of people in the household, not historical use.
I think many people need to be educated on how to conserve water. The information is there, but is has to be searched for and that will only be done by people like us, who are concious and concerned. It seems that there should be more government involvement getting the message out...The papers should devote a special section and it sounds as though our community needs to take some lessons from Long Beach!
I already have gotten 2 loads of mulch this year and looks like I need 1 more.
As for my small patch of lawn remaining...I have been watering 1x per week...but am wondering why??? I plan on taking it out in the winter anyway.

There may be some area that developers are being stopped but not around here. I have seen mtns carved out for thousands of homes in 3 years and plans for 26000 more in the next 2 years.
NRDC and Sierra Club gave into a developer to develope Tejon Ranch because about 90% of area was guaranteed to be saved and left wild.
My city is just thinking revenue coming in from the developer so they approve it. Very high residential community with just retail jobs and long commutes for other jobs.

I'm pretty bummed about the drought. Almost all of the backyard is (my) fruits and veggies which I certainly plan on watering. As for the lawn, my mom insists on watering it :\ so luckily it's not too big. I'd personally like to rip it out and plant some more melons but she pays the bills so I guess that's her call. Everything else is very established and gets no watering the whole year (dunno how that works since you'd never guess anything would grow in our rock hard clay soil to begin with).

Other than that, I do my best to shorten shower times, deep water everything and mulch. Working on convincing the parents to get drip irrigation which will conserve more water and greatly reduce the time I have to spend in the backyard hand watering absolutely everything! My car hasn't been washed in about 6 months too :(

Our nursery has placards for Bay-Area wise plants, and I try my best to stick to those when I buy plants. We also put in a drip irrigation system for the things that can't make it through the summer without water. EBMUD already has us on the dumbest-idea-ever, historical-use rationing. Luckily we have been and will remain under 100 gallons/day so it doesn't affect us (yet). I agree on the per person restrictions. That's the only fair way. I reuse almost every drop of our water. We plug up our shower and use a sump to pump it out to the garden. I also reuse as much "clean" kitchen water as I can. We only flush when absolutely necessary. My dream is to install a complete graywater system.

It enrages me when I see our neighbor washing her car daily, allowing the soapy water to go down the storm drain, into the Bay. And it enrages me more to learn that EBMUD's only restriction on car washing is that you have to have a nozzle if you do it. Are they serious?? GAH!!!

I get enraged when I see what the cities waste! They need to set examples if they want everyone else to follow (not that I'd be stupid enough to do what I describe below...)

We were in Woodland the other day, 80-something degrees, wind blowing, 2:30pm. In the center divide, the sprinklers were on full blast...watering rosemary! What the...? Water was running all over the road, enough so that our (unwashed) car splashed through it.

At almost 4pm, after we finished grocery shopping, the sprinklers were still going full blast!! Come ON, that's just ridiculous. I don't know if Woodland is on water restrictions, but after seeing that, they should be. So wasteful, and the powers that be expect everyone else to make up the difference.

We share a well with about 8 or 9 other houses in a rural area, but I still try to conserve as much as possible. It should be 2nd nature...

Brenda

You know, it's funny, we've been having droughts like this since the 70's and 80's when I was growing up.

Yet, during the building boom over the past 18 years here in southern california, none of the houses built have been designed for water conservation. None are equipped with plumbing that would allow gray water diversion and reuse. None are built to catch and use rainwater.

Why is that?

I'm looking at having a rainwater tank installed when I get my new gutters put on. It'd be really nice if I could easily divert sink water and shower water for reuse though.

When we built our new house 3 years ago we put in a gray-water system that takes the water from the washing machine, showers and bathroom sinks and uses it to water the garden. We got a sophisticated computer-controlled 24-station controller, and we hope to hook it up later this year and start watering our trees with it, once we start planting trees. We also have a very low-water garden in general, including a large area of Calif. natives and a front yard of succulents and drought-tolerant plants. With the exception of our deciduous fruit trees and one or two other small areas, our entire garden will be or already is planted with water-thrifty evergreen plants from similar Mediterranean climates (we're in N.W. San Diego County).

What really annoys me are the HOAs that insist every home have a lawn in front, and all the malls and other businesses with huge lawns. It's not just the water that wastes - it's also the chemical- and noise-pollution.

The Southern California chapter of the Mediterranean Garden Society hosted a terrific day-long workshop a few weeks ago in Santa Monica. It featured speakers from and gardens designed by members of G3 Los Angeles - see link below. We learned about rain-water harvesting and new irrigation techniques, and toured some fascinating water-thrifty gardens.

If you belong to a garden group I hope you'll urge your group to get speakers about low-water plants and other topics to educate people about what they can do to make a difference.

Here is a link that might be useful: G3 Los Angeles, the Green Gardens Group

Historical water use?

If they do that I'm (expletive deleted). I have natives and I use very little water and my gray water goes to the yard. What am I gonna do? Stop taking showers?

Do you guys in the LA area who have air conditioning get any runoff from the condensation? I could get gallons a day from my central air when I lived in Texas, but around here there may not be enough humidity to do that.

Far as the HOAs, just because they require a front lawn, it wouldn't necessarily mean you couldn't keep it to a bare minimum, for instance just a narrow stretch along the curb or inside the sidewalk. I saw this done on one of the landscape makeover shows on TV.

For what it's worth, I have read that some cities require lawns to be installed around homes and big buildings to mitigate runoff pollution.

Here in O.C., there's plans to turn the former El Toro Marine base into a "Great Park." They've been planning and promoting this giant project for years, but so far have barely done any work. Some people see it as a big boondoggle and call it the Great Pork.

Be that as it may, one thing I really don't like about it is that they plan water features galore. For one thing, they want to build a lake there big enough for sailboats! We're talking about an area that, if it hadn't been developed, would be darn close to a desert!

I heard about a house recently built in the N. Bay area that not only has alot of water and power saving devices built into it but also has a downspout collection system. All the rain water is saved in large tanks under the deck. What a great idea.

Penny

What companies install the gray water systems? Plumbing companies or is it a more specialized group? Also can they convert existing systems?

In San Diego you can contact ReWater.com to learn about their gray water systems.

Here is a link that might be useful: ReWater.com

The lawn is mostly gone but I won't give up the roses. Do you get a discount if you mulch? I don't have a pool or a fountain, but I do love my flowers. If they make it too expensive to water my plants, I will seriously think about heading to where the water rains down for free! We pay so much for everything in California. I think the malls and so forth should abide by the same rules as the gardeners.

Here in North San Diego County, the groves and farmers have been on a 30% reduced water plan for over 3 years.
These are food producers, YET, the golf courses and Hotels are not rationed...Some golf courses DO use recycled water, like the La Costa Inn and grounds, some schools and some city parks, but not ALL. A lot of Hotels and businesses still use regular potable water, and I see it running down the road or in the street all the time. They are not held accountable nor are the people who live in the rich areas of S.D., Rancho Santa Fe;Rancho Bernardo; Scripps Ranch; etc. An article I saw in the paper said even if you cut down on your water usage you are STILL going to be charged at the regular rate for not using water, and they're talking about a rate increase.
I bet Arnold dosen't have water worries!

toyo2960, did you get a letter from the city announcing a water rate hike? And every other bill is not based on your actual usage but an "estimate". So every time I get an estimated bill, it is very high and I call up and argue with them and usually they will cut it quite a bit. Last month they reduced it by $50. But most people do not even notice that it says "based on estimated usage" on the statement.

You may find the below KTVU Channel 2 editorial interesting. I did.

Here is a link that might be useful: EBMUD Leaks Wasting 260,000 Gallons Daily

The mayor of city of LA was to sign water restrictions today which just meant no watering between 9am-4pm, no washing car without hose shutoff device and restaurants are to only serve water when asked.
Sheesh! Those are common sense. Fine increased from $50 to $100 I think.
Again DWP continues to rob the consumers of LA because of their incompetence and mismanagement.
Sure glad I don't live there.

Good grief. Those are your "restrictions?" C'mon over to NC...I can show you restrictions. Heck, our standard water conservation restrictions are tougher than that. Of course, y'all are legally allowed to use graywater. Me? I haul the bathwater in buckets...and am SUCH the rebel. Let 'em TRY to arrest me!

ITA mjsee those restrictions are a joke. I never do any of those violations...not even close! I am very stingy when it comes to watering lawn and plants. I know some would do better even though I have put in 90% native and drought tolerant. Everything is so young so like I said...they could use a little more but doing fine.
The one thing I won't change is my showerhead...I must be clean!

I've linked our standard water restrictions...you should see what happens when we go to stage three...

It's raining here, even as I type this. YAY!

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: OWASA water restriction page

Many of us who live in northern California feel that the southern California water districts do NOT take water allocations seriously AT ALL. Golf courses are so special. Hotels/motels are so special. Etc.

I live in the East Bay Municipal Utilities District coverage area. Drought restrictions were imposed on us in, I think, May, and were predicated on "the most recent 3 years of usage at your address." Oh, boy: MUCH public resentment, because many people in Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, Kensington and other nearby spots were already conserving out of general principles, and we were clearly being put into an untenable spot due to our previous environmental awareness and water conservation.

After this rather heated feedback, EBMUD then allowed for special petitions AND stated that the 19% required reduction would NOT be obligatory for those customers whose household usage was less than 100 gallons per day (gpd).

Then it came out in a local paper that 25% (wow...) of the EBMUD residential (single-family houses) customers in the towns/cities listed above were 100 gpd or less users! Wow! We were already helping out quite a bit!

But the real uproar has come from the folks east of the Oakland Hills, whose climate zone is warmer AND drier than ours, who have very lush lawns. One man whose comments I read on a local newspaper's website was downright snotty about his lawn and his swimming pool and washing his cars, etc.

Let me say: California is a natural desert from March through November. Lawns are NOT natural around here; they require way too much water and upkeep. Swimming pools??!!?! When I walk my dogs around my block, only one house on my side of the block has a lawn, and only two on the other street have lawns. And our lots are 50' x 100' here; the lots on the other side of the hills are much larger. Clearly, there's no room around here for swimming pools (and no water, either)!

So there *are* some here who are operating under fairly stringent water-use guidelines.

in el cerrito

Here is a link that might be useful: EBMUD Drought Restrictions FAQ & links

I agree with you cynthia_h that some down here don't take it seriously. I see water ALL the time running down streets and sidwalks trying to make cement and asphalt grow.
It took CalTrans 3 weeks and 5 email notifications to fix 6 sprinklers along the freeway that had cracked pipes, geysers etc.
It is just stupid to be watering after 7am especially May-Oct. It just evaporates.

I think those of use that are conserving just can't make up for the loss.

California has the ability, almost a requirement to elect leaders unable to look or plan ahead. Remember only a few years ago the rolling electrical blackouts? Who knew that with a growing population we would need more electricity? Why allow the building of more generating capacity until we actually run out of what we have already. We have done the same with our water. Every winter(the only time it rains in California)95% of all the water that falls on the state runs freely into the ocean and heaven knows it does not need more water. Until California notices where the water is going and stops trying to blame its citizens for using it, nothing will be done to save our water from the ocean. Al

I'm looking into getting a rain barrel..in case it ever rains again.

scarlett2001 you must be limiting your garden to a tabletop garden, as only a garden that size would survive a five month season of no rain, with the amount of water contained in a 55 gallon rain barrel. Al

I've found my rain barrels useful for keeping my container plants alive...but we get rain more frequently than y'all do. The barrels are just supplemental. I'm seriously considering investing in a cistern...maybe next summer. I DID manage to keep all my choice shrubs and trees alive during last summer's drought using hand carried gray water...rain barrels would have made it easier. (That's why I bought a couple.)