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Long Beach citywide landscape drawing winners will be selected December 2nd!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 21, 2008 at 11:11 pm

Don’t I wish I lived in Long Beach … From the Long Beach Water Department:

LONG BEACH, CA – Who’s the BIGGEST water waster in Long Beach?…our landscapes! Your last day to enter the opportunity drawing for a brand new, water efficient front yard is December 1, 2008. Winners of the Long Beach Water Department’s water-efficient landscape drawing will be selected at random by Members of the Long Beach City Council at the beginning of the Tuesday, December 2, 2008, City Council meeting. One winning home will be selected from each of the nine City Council Districts. Residents have until Monday, December 1, 2008 to enter the drawing by visiting www.lbwater.org, or calling (562) 570-2300.

The landscapes, each valued at up to $10,000, will be professionally designed, installed and paid for by the Long Beach Water Department, as part of the water supply agency’s effort to demonstrate important outdoor water savings techniques, as well as to sustain attention on the immediate need to conserve more water. The drawing, design and installation of these landscapes will be filmed and televised on local cable to expose large segments of the community to the beauty and environmental benefits of using California native and other water efficient plants.

According to Matt Lyons, Director of Conservation and Planning for the Long Beach Water Department, “southern California’s drinking water supplies have been permanently reduced over the last few years. We must lower our demand down to where it’s roughly equal to our supply. One of the best ways to do this is by reducing our landscape irrigation.” In southern California, landscape typically consumes huge amounts of water: roughly half of the water used in the average home goes to landscape. “There’s a lot of room for improvement on how we irrigate our yards,” he added.

“To give people an idea on the amount of water we can save by changing our approach to landscape and outdoor irrigation, you need only look at the water saved by Long Beach residents this year,” stated John Allen, President of the Board of Water Commissioners. “We’ve set record 10-year lows for water consumption in 10 of the last 13 months. This can be attributed to changes in attitudes and behavior in use of water outside the home. This is a focus we would like to sustain for the long-term.”

On September 13, 2007, the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners issued a Declaration of Imminent Water Supply Shortage and activated the City’s Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan. As a result, the Board issued mandatory prohibitions on certain outdoor uses of water. The Declaration was necessitated by the profound impact of permanent reductions to imported water deliveries into southern California; the dramatic reductions in water storage levels in key reservoirs in northern California; and climate conditions resulting in drought.

“Through the opportunity drawing we hope to raise awareness of an important and exciting new concept in landscape,” according to Lyons. The innovation of the colorful, water-efficient landscape comes from the fact that it reduces landscape water needs by 80 percent or more while at the same time reduces the harmful impact urban water run-off has on our coastal marine habitat, beautifies our neighborhoods, reduces yard maintenance, and improves our quality of life.

The Long Beach Water Department is an urban, southern California retail water supplier and the standard in water conservation and environmental stewardship.

Ryan J. Alsop
Director of Government & Public Affairs
Long Beach Water
Brennan S. Thomas Administration Building

November 21, 2008 · Filed Under Drought Tolerant Landscaping

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