Water leaders push for state funding, approve conservation blueprint

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer | Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:03 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- San Diego County water leaders approved separate plans Thursday that would make the county eligible for $25 million in state water project grants and provide a blueprint for how the region can further cut its water use in the future.

Work on both plans started about a year ago, and San Diego County Water Authority board members approved them with little discussion Thursday. The Water Authority supplies the region with nearly all of its water, buying it and selling it to 24 member cities and water agencies.

The first plan, called the integrated water management plan, marked the first time local officials and agencies that normally work separately created a joint plan to boost water supplies, improve water quality and protect the environment.

State leaders told water agencies across California that they had to create the integrated management plans if they hoped to get a cut of Proposition 50 funding next year ---- money from the $3.44 billion water bond voters approved in 2002. The measure set aside millions of dollars to help pay for plans ranging from buying and restoring wetlands to reducing water pollution and improving water treatment.

The second plan, a water conservation blueprint, grew out of a meeting the Water Authority held in June 2006 with the landscaping industry. Southern California is in the midst of a record drought, as are the region's imported supply sources ---- the Colorado River and California's State Water Project that delivers rain fall and snow melt from Northern California.

Water officials say they have nearly exhausted people's ability to cut indoor water use with low-flow shower heads and low-flush toilets.

Because of that, Water Authority spokeswoman Toby Roy said the new blueprint would shift the conservation target to outdoor water use through several tactics. One of those would gather water, landscape and other officials together to create a model law that could eventually be adopted by cities and the county.

The law could require builders and landscapers to use more water efficient equipment. The plan also could also create financial incentives for water-efficient equipment; try to convince nurseries, retailers and manufacturers to make more water-efficient plants and irrigation equipment available to the public; and create a certification program for landscapers.

Water Authority spokeswoman Dana Friehauf said that the first plan, the integrated water management plan, could bring $25 million in state grants for a still-undecided number of water projects to the region.

Friehauf said that a committee planned to winnow down a list of more than 160 projects that water agencies had submitted in the hope of getting funding in August. Those that make the cut will be part of the Water Authority's application to the state for funding, which must compete for cash with applications from other regions.

Friehauf said that a number of the projects that have been submitted for consideration could use the entire $25 million maximum annual funding by themselves. But she said the grant money was not intended to completely fund any project and that the Water Authority's application would include a number of projects. The applications will also have to show that the projects have at least 10 percent in matching funds from another source.

"It's seed money," Friehauf said. "The state has told us that several times. It's money that helps us go to that elected official or government and saying, 'We've got some money to work with.'"

Meanwhile, board members at Thursday's meeting were also advised by a special consultant that if they really want to prod the public into conserving water outdoors ---- they should do it with cash.

Jeffrey Jordan, a spokesman for Mindset Research, gave board members a 20 minute presentation on the results of a "focus group" survey designed to figure out if the public and private landscapers knew much about ---- or cared about ---- recent calls for increased water conservation.

Jordan said the surveys, which were done in May with about 40 people ---- two groups of local homeowners and two unlicensed landscaper groups ---- indicated that people had heard the conservation call, and would help.

However, Jordan said that the research suggested that people were really interested in water agencies offering the same kind of financial incentives to buy water-efficient plants and irrigation equipment that officials have offered for low-flow shower heads and other indoor devices.

"Money talks," Jordan said.

The Water Authority and other suppliers have offered rebates on some irrigation equipment and satellite and weather-based controllers, and even synthetic turf. But the Water Authority and others have not offered cash-back for plants and other landscape items.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.

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