Los Angeles Watering Restrictions

Update: (July 25, 2009): "Councilman Greig Smith introduced a motion Friday, July 24 seeking to change the Department of Water and Power's (DWP) two-day-per-week lawn watering restrictions to three days a week in an effort to help homeowners save their lawns and save additional water.

"The twice-a-week restrictions are turning people's lawns brown, which hurts home values in our neighborhoods," Councilman Smith said. "For more than a decade we have had a policy of greening, not browning L.A."

The motion would change the restriction from Monday and Thursday, 15 minutes per day, as it is currently, to Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for 8 minutes per day. This would help lawns, trees and shrubs survive while still meeting conservation goals. It would even reduce watering by 6 minutes per home per week, saving many thousands of gallons of water.

Read entire article: Councilman Smith Seeks to Change Lawn Watering Restrictions from Two Days to Three Days a Week to Help Homeowners Save Their Lawns and Save More Water

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Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I don't use sprinklers very much in my garden, but even alternative methods like soaker and drip are effected by the watering restrictions passed by the City of Los Angeles on June 1, 2009. After getting conflicting answers on the subject, I went to LADWP.com and got the word from the "horse's mouth". (LA Water Restrictions PDF Flyer)

It is illegal to...

• Water using sprinklers on any day other than Monday and Thursday
• Water landscaping – including lawns - between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
• Water using sprinklers for more than 15 minutes per watering station, 10 minutes for other irrigation systems
• Use water on any hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways,driveways or parking areas
• Allow runoff onto streets and gutters from excessive watering
• Allow leaks from any pipe or fixture to go unrepaired
• Wash vehicles without using a hose with a shut-off nozzle
• Serve water to customers in restaurants unless requested

Source: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

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Something stinks in the Valley!

As if we needed yet another reason to dislike lawns in this near-desert environment, this month brings yet another, pungent,reason.

Since I don't have a lawn on my property, I am not exactly sure why this is done each Fall, but steer manure seems to be the top-dressing of choice. Of course, this has to be the stinkiest top dressing ever invented. Where most manures seem to be composted and most odorless, this manure can be smelled blocks away. Now imagine 25% of the lawns on a given street covered with the stuff. Yeech!

My wife and I like to take a walk through the neighborhood for exercise and usually follow a particular route of a know length. A few nights ago, we spent the entire walk choking on the smell.

This article, Winterize? Some truths about cool season lawn care gives some reasoning behind the manure for "winterizing" your lawn, although winterizing seems a grand word to use here in Southern California. This article, Ann's Organic Garden: Simple technique transforms a sorry lawn advises against it due to the high salt content.

Whatever the reason, though, can't we all find something a bit less smelly to get the job done so we can enjoy the usual fall smells without feeling we live next to a feed lot?