Find a Document
Being WaterWise
Every Day is a Chance to Save
Responding to the hard-earned lessons learned from enduring several droughts over the past 30 years, Southern Californians have changed how they view and use water. The result is impressive: Southland residents use less water today than they did in 1990, even though our population has increased by more than 4 million people. We’ve achieved this together as a region by supporting smarter plumbing and building codes, increasing awareness of the importance of our natural resources, funding water efficiency rebate programs, and enlisting students to bring conservation home through Metropolitan’s education programs. With years of record drought followed by intense rainfall, we recognize that climate change is making California’s swings from wet to dry even more extreme, and we must be ready. That’s why it’s important to be prepared by saving water today to store for the dry years ahead.
Conservation is not only a way of life here, it’s a vital water supply source. Without conservation, the effects of drought would be more swift and more severe. When we use less water in our daily lives, we reduce water demands across the region and achieve greater supply reliability for us all.
Rebates to Help
You Save
Metropolitan has invested over $910 million in conservation rebates to incentivize purchases of water-efficient devices like toilets, flow monitor devices, smart irrigation controllers and high-efficiency clothes washers. Our targeted turf rebate program — the largest in the nation — has supported the transformation of millions of acres of water-guzzling grass into beautiful California Friendly© and native plant landscapes. Metropolitan continues to lead the way by calling for the elimination of non-functional turf for commercial, industrial, public properties. This is a valuable tool to quickly and permanently decrease overall water use to enhance our water reliability.
Achievements in Conservation, Recycling and Groundwater Recharge
An increasing percentage of Southern California’s water supply comes from conservation, water recycling, and recovered groundwater. Metropolitan’s annual achievement report describes its successes in the areas of local resource development, local storage efforts, and improvement of the watersheds that provide imported and local supplies to the region.
Read our full report to the state Legislature.
View the executive summary.
View our scorecard.
Innovative Conservation Program
Metropolitan is always looking for great ideas and ways to be even more efficient. This research-focused grant program, in collaboration with the Southern California Gas Company, allows Metropolitan to form partnerships with public and private entities to evaluate the potential and reliability of innovative water-saving devices, technologies and strategies.
Community Partnering Program
This program provides sponsorships for community-based organizations to organize water conservation and water-use efficiency programs and activities throughout the Metropolitan Water District service area. Funding supports community forums, workshops, water festivals, after-school programs, and demonstration gardens.
Advertising & Outreach
Metropolitan’s in-house design resources allow us to rapidly adapt and revise messaging and programs to address evolving water supply conditions and consumer interests. We are mindful to produce culturally relevant communications materials in multiple languages that speak to our diverse service area across various platforms. Metropolitan has developed a suite of advertising and outreach campaigns to increase awareness about the need to conserve amid climate extremes. The campaigns provide Southern California residents with practical water-saving tips and information on water-efficient device rebates.
Metropolitan relies on a network to broadcast the importance of conservation as the region continues to face increasingly severe impacts of climate change.
Education Programs
For over 35 years, our Education Unit has inspired students, educators and community members with a lifelong appreciation for natural resources and our shared responsibility to be mindful of our impact on the environment. All Metropolitan education resources are available at no cost to teachers and students within our six-county service area.
During a field trip and tour of Met headquarters, high school students participate in a water quality experiment.
|
Girl Scouts can earn a water protector patch. Boy Scouts can earn a merit badge in water conservation and soil erosion. |
