PALMDALE – Due to severe drought conditions, low supplies, and to be in compliance with the State Water Resources Control Board’s new Emergency Drought Regulations, the Palmdale Water District Board of Directors approved a Resolution on July 23 enacting strict water conservation measures with the goal of a 20% reduction in water usage for the rest of the year.
Water conservation regulations:
- There shall be no hose washing of sidewalks, walkways, buildings, walls, patios, driveways, parking areas or other paved surfaces, or walls, except to eliminate conditions dangerous to public health or safety or when required as surface preparation for the application of architectural coating or painting.
- Washing of motor vehicles, trailers, boats and other types of equipment shall be done only with a hand-held nozzle for quick rinses, except that washing may be done with reclaimed wastewater or by a commercial car wash using recycled water.
- No water shall be used to clean, fill or maintain levels in decorative fountains, ponds, lakes or other similar aesthetic structures unless such water is part of a closed recycling system.
- No restaurant, hotel, cafe, cafeteria or other public place where food is sold, served or offered for sale shall serve drinking water to any customer unless expressly requested and shall display a notice to that effect.
- All water users shall promptly repair all leaks from indoor and outdoor plumbing fixtures.
- No lawn, landscape, or other turf area shall be watered more often than three (3) days per week and no more often than every other day nor during the hours between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Water days will be set as follows: addresses ending in an even number starting on Monday, and addresses ending in an odd number starting on Tuesday.
- EXEMPTIONS:
- No watering hour restrictions during the months of November, December, January, February, and March. Watering can occur between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- The District will allow an exemption from the watering schedule if an ET based controller is installed and operating. The ET Controller Exemption Form must be completed and the installation verified by a licensed landscape architect or PWD staff.
- EXEMPTIONS:
- No water users shall cause or allow the water to run off landscape areas into adjoining streets, sidewalks, or other paved areas due to incorrectly directed or maintained sprinklers or excessive watering. If cited, random acts of vandalism will be considered in any appeal.
- The owner and manager of every hotel, motel, inn, guest house, bed and breakfast facility, and short-term commercial lodging shall post a notice of such shortage and any necessary compliance measures.
- Commercial nurseries, golf courses, parks, school yards, and other public open space, and landscaped areas shall be prohibited from watering lawn, landscaping, and other turf areas more often than five days per week and between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., except that there shall be no restriction on watering utilizing reclaimed water or where public use requires a modified and approved watering schedule.
- EXEMPTIONS:
- Athletic field watering can occur between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. the following morning.
- No watering hour restrictions during the months of November, December, January, February, and March. Watering can occur between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- The District will allow an exemption from the watering schedule if an ET based controller is installed and operating. The ET Controller Exemption Form must be completed and the installation verified by a licensed landscape architect or PWD staff.
- Watering schedules must be adhered to at all times. The District requires advance written notice of any maintenance activities requiring water use between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- EXEMPTIONS:
- The use of water from fire hydrants shall be limited to fire fighting and related activities and other uses of water for municipal purposes shall be limited to activities necessary to maintain the public health, safety, and welfare. Ongoing water system improvement projects are also exempt under this section and may continue to use construction meters in accordance with standard District policy.
The District has a Waste of Water Policy that is always in effect and a fine can be charged for the misuse of water.
Waste of Water Policy
California law prohibits the waste or unreasonable use of water and requires that the District take all appropriate actions to prevent such waste and unreasonable use of this finite resource.
Despite its conservation efforts, including its campaign to encourage conservation by consumers, the District has been made aware of consumers activities including ( 1 ) over-irrigation, (2) misuse of water in cleaning of paved surfaces, and (3) waste resulting from inefficient and leaking plumbing fixtures, all of which result in runoff or waste of water.
In order to prevent continued waste and unreasonable use of water and to protect its limited available water supply, the District adopts the following policy:
- Upon notification of observation of waste or misuse of water, the District shall:
- Make a photographic record of such activity;
- Provide notice to the consumer in writing or by means of a door tag; and
- Log the warning on the consumer’s service record.
- In the event of a second offense, the District shall:
- Assess a surcharge of $50.00 upon the consumer for each offense occurring after the warning has been given;
- Give notice to the consumer in writing that if such waste or misuse continues or occurs again, the consumer will be subject to disconnection of service.
- Upon third offense, the District shall:
- Give notice to the consumer that disconnection of service will occur within five (5) working days of the date of the notice;
- Disconnect the consumer’s service; and
- Charge the consumer a disconnection charge for waste or misuse of water as set forth in Appendix D and turn-on fee as set forth in Appendix D if service is later restored. Service will be restored only when the consumer has provided evidence satisfactory to the District that waste and unreasonable use of water will no longer occur.
The complete “Waste of Water Policy” can be viewed at www.palmdalewater.org.
To report water waste, call the District’s Water Waste Hotline at 661-456-1099.
(Information via press release from the Palmdale Water District.)
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Previous related stories:
It’s going to be a long hot summer: Save Water and Save Energy
Palmdale Water District to consider water shortage emergency plan
bird says
William—Why don’t you apply some wisdom by learning civility.
William says
Like you do. Jason read my comments, and then made up ‘his’ version of what I wrote and ran with it, then demanded answers which I don’t really care too much for that kind of interaction.
Why don’t you police some of the other trash talking comments on this side, bird?
There are plenty of uncivil comments on some of the articles regarding crime reports and traffic accidents which apparently are fine with you.
So, get off you high horse. Just who do you think you are anyway?
Like I said, you are a hypocrite and a phony accusing me of the very stuff you address to me about my comments.
William says
bird, you must wake up angry every morning and then you come here and whine all the time.
Why aren’t you just happy and grateful that your’re alive or something?
D says
Why don’t you two just go out already???
bird says
D—I might consider it if he would just behave.
Eric says
Please stop; romance after 60 is just gross.
Wiiliam says
Please. Now, I won’t be able to sleep tonight at the thought of that.
bird says
We are going to see a lot more water pipe ruptures like West L.A.. Our invisible infrastructure is decaying. It is much more of a problem than the farmers.
greg says
When I drive around Palmdale I notice it too has many underground leaks. Perhaps we should renew are infrastructure instead of just patching. I’m not going to pretend I know all the ins and outs of the water districts plans, but just sayin, one replacement or ten patches, which is better ??
chrlrss says
So is Lancaster even discussing this at all?
CAP'N LANCASTER says
LANCASTER IS TOO PREOCCUPIED WITH ALL THEIR MAYOR’S LAWSUITS. HE JUST FILED ANOTHER ONE AGAINST THE CITY OF HIGHLAND. STARWOOD, AMERICAN LEGIONS, PALMDALE, SANTA CLARITA, SCHOOL DISTRICTS, BEST BUY, MONSTER ENERGY AND ON AND ON AND ON AND ON.
greg says
Are you saying REX could be a crook ?
Jim says
So here’s the my big question. If you are a landlord paying for the water as part of the lease and the tenant wastes water who get’s notified and fined since PWD is using the bill as whipping tool? In the first month of the lease the tenant already doubled the water usage of what we used monthly. Most owners probably won’t know anything until they see their bill. I don’t care how good you are in the Antelope Valley it is impossible to keep the water from running of the sidewalks. This is inherently wrong on so many levels.
By the way in the City of Palmdale if you don’t maintain your front yard to the City’s “Standard” they will fine you, I was under that threat last year. There is nothing good about this draconian policy. It is inherently flawed by politicians looking to a crisis to line their pockets.
Huh says
Well I also have another concern seeing that the Palmdale has in place the “Clean Act” which requires all lawns to be kept Nice or face a fine how exactly am I supposed to keep up my lawn if it’s already dying?? Now I’ve been doing my part and actually started my routine since I first heard of this lets say the last 3 weeks and my grass is already half dead, how is this clean act going to affect us. I bought my home a year and a half ago when I loved in we received a letter stating we were going to be fined $500 if we didn’t fix our front yard within a month. Now it wasn’t dirty or had weeds it was just dirt, so I fix it and now I have to scared that the DWP AND Palmdale city are going to fine me because they both contradict each other!! What about all the money invested in my yards?. How’s going to reimburse me for that?? I guess it would be better to move out of Cali. What a shame.
Jane says
Meanwhile, Los Angeles can spew 20 MILLION gallons into the streets…. But we’ll be penalized for running our sprinklers on an off day. Take that, drought!
William says
What cracks me up, is occasionally people will comment that we live in the ‘desert’.
Well, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Monterey Peninsula, Santa Barbara and other coastal cities have had water issues for decades.
They get their water from either inland reservoirs or all the way from the Sierra Nevada mountains as does most of California, whether desert or coastal.
So, don’t let them criticize you for living in a desert. San Francisco, surrounded by water on all 3 sides gets its drinking water from Hetch Hetchy from the Shaughnessy Dam near Yosemite, a 160 miles away. Is San Francisco a ‘desert’?
If every Californian tore out their lawns, it would only save a few percentage points from the total use by the state. It’s the farmers who need to rethink what crops they plant since they use 80% of the water. But, they have lobbyists and we don’t.
Jason says
So what crops should they plant in place of corn, rice, oranges, apples, lemons, limes, lettuce, onions, tomatoes etc etc etc? Or should we just import all our food items from other countries? Kind of hard to say they need to rethink what they plant when what they do is vital for health and nutrition.
William says
Oh, Jason
They have to flood fields for rice to export to Japan while Japan exports cars to us. What’s wrong with that picture?
It takes a gallon of water to grow 1 almond and California grows 80% of the world’s almonds. So, our water is being used to export almonds to the rest of the world. How nice for us.
BTW. Almond farmers didn’t plant other vegetable crops to use the water for their almond trees. I can give up almonds easliy. Or, we can only grow what is used in California or the U.S.
So, much for your ‘nutrition’.
I don’t know why I bother replying to you, Jason. Are you a kid?
Do you just argue just to argue?
Jason says
So what should they plant in place of rice then? Its the worlds most consumed grain. What crop would replace the $5 BILLION dollars and 25,000 jobs? Rice farmers also use less than water than they used to.
You realize almonds are the states #1 ag export to the tune of $2.5 billion dollars right? Almonds are also one of the most nutritional nuts you can eat, but hey dont let that fact get in the way.
For the 100th time Im not a kid, but continue to try and be condescending. I wasnt trying to argue, I was asking a legit question considering how important California agriculture is to not only this country but the world. Its an industry that brings BILLIONS and thousands of jobs to this state.
William says
I said we need to rethink what crops to plant in this state, not stop planting everything.
But, you know how you are.
A lot of good having a huge export crop like almonds going elsewhere if some California cities go without water and are deserted if the drought continues. Then, we’ll lose even more jobs, Einstein.
In every discussion, you never think before your first impulse. That’s why I think you’re a teenager arguing with everything.
Agriculture uses 80% of the water, residents can conserve and conserve but it ain’t gonna make that huge a difference if agriculture continues to use 80%. It might end up using an even greater percentage if residents tear out all of their lawns and shower once a week and there’s a lesser quantity of water available.
Did you flunk math in school?
bird says
Jason—William enjoys being condescending to others. He enjoys being a bully. He enjoys being a hater. He treats everyone the same.
Jason says
And you still havent answered what what to plant. I asked that question and like usual you ignored it. You pick two of the states biggest exports that bring in billions of dollars and thousands of jobs while not giving an alternative crop to replace them with.
What cities are going without water and are being deserted thus losing jobs? Talk about hyperbole
So asking a legit question is now not thinking before my first impulse? Thats good to know.
Agriculture uses so much water because its one of the states biggest commodities. Should we cut down on the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs they bring in because of overpopulation and the lack of alternative water resources the State is lacking in?
William says
@Jason
I’ve written several comments on this one article and you have limited reading comprehension but like so many of your ilk, you ‘demand’ answers to your questions. Questions to which you will invariably not accept any proffered answers.
I’ve gone round and round with you before on other issues and it’s the same thing with you.
I Googled ‘California cities that might have water shut off due to the drought’ and just picked an article at random and found this paragraph from a January 31 article.
“State officials say 17 rural communities are in danger of a severe water shortage within four months. Wells are running dry or reservoirs are nearly empty in some communities. Others have long-running problems that predate the drought.”
This is in response to your silly comment>
“What cities are going without water and are being deserted thus losing jobs? Talk about hyperbole”
What will happen to those cities if there’s no more water? San Francisco’s water supply was threatened from a forest fire near Hetch Hetchy where it gets it’s water. Imagine if San Francisco’s water supply was cut off. More lost jobs than rice farmers but you know everything.
Why don’t you and the ‘bird’ discuss this between yourselves since you two know everything about everything.
I have said we need to rethink our agricultural water use and which water intensive crops we should even grow here in California but you are too bull-headed and can’t read what’s in front you. I’m not a farmer but they have lobbies and we don’t. Our elected officials need to see where the savings can be when agriculture uses 80% of the water.
There will be a loss of non-farm jobs if the drought continues, more than the 25,000 rice farming jobs.
If you aren’t a kid when are you gonna gain some wisdom? Wisdom that usually comes with years.
Jason says
William, My “ilk” demands answers? Is that like you “ilk” ignores simple questions? The drought is a serious problem and any answer or solution can go towards helping.
My reading comprehension is just fine but once again you ignore a simple question to answer. Is it really that hard to just give an answer on what alternative crops to place that wont be a burden on the water system and will replace the jobs and money brought in by the ones that use vast amounts of water?
And Im not bull-headed and can see whats it front of me. You, like usual, call out what you see as a problem and then ignore questions about alternatives.
Maybe you should use some of you “wisdom” and understand why a Billion dollar industry has lobbyists and why they get to use the amount of water they do. The ag industry has been the hardest hit by the drought and gets less and less water every year and has to fight for every drop of water it gets while other parts of the problem go ignored.
doublestandard says
ok so I’m paying for a service,They raise my rates, Not they tell me not to use the product the way I see fit. YES 100% we need to use care., But with children multiple cars animals and two yards I already have been doing my part, But how you will be checked..go against last year same time frame..Ok so what about those of us that already have been doing our part..cut another 20%…cut my bill too, I see standing water at intersections, what about the waste of some of these near unused parks…come on. I assure you the well offs will still do what they want and the followers will pay the price
Big Rick says
when is CALIFORNIA going to see water desalination plants? all this water on our back door and we are not using this RESOURCE. we must not be having to big of a drought if were not taping that source. I thought we (california) was the leader in technology? and the leader of good? …… i guess not. WAKE UP CALIFORNIA. Instead of wasting our tax dollars lets put them to good work. im just saying.
Jason says
The state would rather waste billions on pet projects than try and find a solution to one of our biggest problems.
sandy says
How about swamp coolers?
RUDOLPH BATIER says
ALL YOU SUCKERS WILL START GETTING TAXED AT 500$ A TICKET, WHILE THE DWP SPENDS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON THEIR OWN WHILE YOU SUCKER GET TAXED.
BIG RICK says
My swamp cooler purges the water every 8 hours of use. I recycle the water in a 55gallon blue barrel. Very simple and cheap to do. i put a water spigot on it and it works great. If your cooler purges water like mine, get a barrel from the people on craigs list or call 661-579-9700
get off my lawn says
How does me watering every day or watering twice as long every other day change anything? Also how can you be fined for using a product you pay for already? Why do parks and golf courses get special treatment?
dumbandblind says
What about the City of Lancaster?
Donato says
I think the PWD is taking the right approach, but there are a few considerations not being addressed, which I don’t believe is fair – here are a few of my thoughts
As you know, in the AV, we can receive days/nights with freezing temps or very strong gusty winds – before PWD ever issued any restrictions, I would always turn off my sprinkler systems for 3 reasons: 1) if the outside temps were near or below freezing to avoid breaking valves/sprinklers; 2) if the gusty winds caused my sprinklers to blow in the neighbor’s yard rather than mine; and 3) if something broke until I had time to fix it.
Now, I read the restrictions several times and believe I only saw one of my 3 items addressed – it looks like PWD has made an allowance only for #1 ) to allow watering later in the warmer part of the day when temps are vulnerable to freezing “during the months of November, December, January, February, and March.” However, as you know, temps during our summer days can be record-breaking and landscapes will be stressed greatly with the reduced schedule – so what happens if the winds are blowing so hard that I would normally turn off my sprinklers and water at the next opportunity with less violent wind? I feel unless this policy has some common-sense allowance for the AV winds, then I will be forced to water on the most windy of days (so some water will hit in my yard before my landscape completely dies) rather than wait another 2 days for my regularly scheduled water day? I’d like to think if I am on the M-W-F schedule, that if I skip a day for bad winds, that I can water on the next day to make up for it? Lastly, since it is forbidden to have broken pipes in the policy, most responsible home owners will fix the pipes as soon as possible, so as not to waste water (and receive big water bills), but also to save the landscape from dying for lack of water. However, am I to risk fees and fines, if I try to fix any sprinkler issues on a non-scheduled day, such as the weekend when I am usually at home; or, during the day when the sunshine allows me to see?
Lastly, on behalf of all PWD customers – while I don’t see evidence of it in my neighborhood, I know that some neighbors don’t get along well and this policy provides some incentive for frivolous complaints about neighbors who have landscapes, possibly by some folks without. I hope that any anonymous complaints are treated appropriately, like responding “have they discussed the issue with their neighbor first?” I would really hate Palmdale after loving it for the past 28 years, if due to the wind, my sprinklers blow on my neighbor’s car and as a result they call in a complaint and some PWD spies come out to observe the wind carrying some sprinkler spray into their driveway, so it appears there is water waste, and find out I get some anonymous complaint that I can never fix and costs me fees/fines because I don’t know what is wrong?
I hope for all the customers of PWD, that we can all get along and together we can get through this water shortage. If you have a neighbor who you think is wasting water, why not share your thoughts with him/her? We don’t need a tough time to make getting along become tougher by throwing neighbors under the bus to receive fines, etc.
My final wish is that one or all of my thoughts will hit home and help those with the power to write policy and enforce policy to be fair, while striving to do the right thing.
Jo says
Good points and well written! I was thinking the same thing about “bad” neighbors making complaints just to stir up trouble…Is Littlerock considered part of the PWD?
Anna says
Littlerock is Los Angeles County waterworks, we do not pay our money to Palmdale Water District. However, Littlerock and all surrounding areas need to comply with saving water. I let my lawns go years ago when we had a drought. Washing your car and driveway is a waste of water. Water early am or after 4pm and only for a few minutes. Yes, keep animals cool with water just don’t let it run all the time.
Jo says
Thanks Anna…We also no longer have a lawn or driveway, just dirt and have wash our car rarely, …why bother since we live in a very dusty place, it just gets dirty right away :-) I have a 4′ x 4′ square foot garden that gets watered once a day (it takes very little water…)
We wash dishes by hand by filling up the sink with hot water and letting the dishes soak, using a soapy sponge and rinsing in very little water. We have no washer/dryer or dish washer. We do our laundry at the laundromat once a month, so I feel we are doing our share.
Jt says
Very good points! living in my area I already have had neighbor complain about my sprinkler mist hitting his caddy! well park it in your driveway! the wind does blow, I have my sprinklers to come on after 8:30 at night. anyone living up in the AV knows usually in the summer time the winds subside drastically, though not always a good portion of the time they do. why they would tell you to water after 4 p.m. when it is still hot as blazes and usually the wind is at its peak makes no senses to what so ever! Most of the homes on my street are rentals with no lawns or nothing and code enforcement does squat about it! the corner house looks like a jungle of over grown brush etc. the few of us home owners who do take pride in there homes etc. will be the ones targeted! seen it and felt it first hand few years back. not to mention all the cars parked all over the bare yards, looks like a huge car lot. hopefully the city will look at these policies and make some modifications. Also expect rates to go up within a year or 2 of these water restrictions, why? well if you use 20%l less water that means PWD gets 20% less revenue! now multiply that by all the water connections! worse part is rates will never go down after we are not in a drought, vicious cycle!
anonymous says
If the city is so concerned about water waste they should look at the leak that I have called and complained about several times. The leak has been there for over 3 months and they don’t care. Water on both sides of the street every morning and they haven’t fixed it. Fix that before you penalize people that like to keep their yard looking nice and green. Let’s see you survive drinking water 3 times a week
Just saying says
Or the leak at 40th east and Lancaster blvd, lets just put a flooded sign out and call it good right?
Jt says
Lancaster is not PALMDALE WATER DISTRICT. if there is a leak let what ever agency know in Lancaster!
Just Saying says
They know, they just chose to put up a sign and say (FLOODED) may not be PWD but still a large waste of water.
Concerned says
How about people with pets/livestock that need sprinklers run to cool them, or ponds filled for geese, ducks, fish? Some of the runoff is providing relief for toads, frogs and other critters that have run out of natural resources. I am willing to bet a few species are protected.
Kat says
good question .. i have the same concern