Coachella Valley Water District has adopted drought penalties to encourage conservation during the drought.
Now, residents served by CVWD need to conserve by limiting their monthly outdoor water use by 10 percent below their Tier 2 outdoor water budget. Customers’ September bills for water use in August will reflect any changes.
Water use above 90 percent of Tier 2 budgets will be assessed a penalty of 29 cents per unit of water (100 cubic feet or 748 gallons of water). Tiers 3, 4 and 5 will see per unit penalty rates of $1.80, $3.16 and $6.44 per unit of water, respectively.
This approach will not affect 60 percent of customers who are efficient water users.
Revenue from the drought penalties will fund more customer conservation programs.
Residential customers are encouraged to increase outdoor water-use efficiency.
- Water in early morning or evening hours to lessen loss through evaporation. Current restrictions ban spray irrigation during daylight hours.
- Replace grass with desert landscaping and apply for a rebate of $3 per square foot at cvwd.org/rebates.
- Fix clogged and broken spray heads.
- Switch to drip irrigation for greatest water efficiency
- Install and program a weather-based smart controller. Eligible customers can apply for a free controller at cvwd.org/rebates.
For more information: CVWD.org/conservation
Coachella Valley Water District is a public agency governed by a five-member board of directors. The district provides domestic and irrigation water, agricultural drainage, wastewater treatment and reclamation services, regional stormwater protection, groundwater management and water conservation. It serves approximately 113,000 residential and business customers across 1,000 square miles located primarily in Riverside County, but also in portions of Imperial and San Diego counties.
