“It is a question of how do we use this short reprieve”, said Felicia Marcus, chair of the state water board.
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The Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County led the push for a regional approach.
“We certainly don’t want people to turn to overwatering their lawns again”, Marcus said, adding that people’s lawns “should be the same color as the surrounding hills”. California water officials say they will consider dropping a mandate requiring conservation in the state¿s fifth year of drought.
The State Water Resources Control Board in California voted Wednesday to suspend the emergency conservation mandates in place statewide after a winter wet with rain and snow eased drought conditions in some areas, reported the Associated Press.
“This makes a compelling case for not relaxing conservation standards as we head into the hottest, driest and highest water using season of the year”, she said. Fiona Sanchez, director of water resources for the district, said she is confident that districts statewide will carefully study their supply and demand.
Representatives of the agencies applauded the switch to a “self-certification” system and said they will continue help customers conserve. California’s five-year drought has sucked reservoirs dry and browned yards across the state, forcing cities and towns to cut water usage or else, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. On the other hand the state made permanent prohibitions against washing down sidewalks and driveways, using a hose without a shut-off valve to wash cars and banning the use of water on road medians. Southern California, however, missed out on much of the precipitation.
With California facing the possibility of another dry year, now doesn’t seem to be the time to send a message that there is no longer “any sort of real urgent need to conserve at all”, she said. He doesn’t expect people to suddenly begin wasting water with the changes. Much of the state remains in severe drought, said Tracy Quinn, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Many water districts had urged the state to lift the mandatory restrictions, complaining the previous across-the-board approach didn’t take into account local circumstances or give communities a voice.
The new approach would be welcomed by Southern California landscaper Greg Gritters, who says local water officials are best suited to manage their supplies. The Irvine neighbors, like most Californians, know lush, green lawns are a distant dream even as the state’s long drought eases.
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“Either way they’re unhappy”, said Gritters, owner of Vintage Landscape in the Coachella Valley.
