California Heights resident Mary Anne Janquart points out the area on her front yard where she’s removed her grass in favor of the flowers and plants that are more “drought friendly.” Janquart says she only needs to water her yard about one time a week.
Staff Writer
Mary Anne Janquart, a California Heights resident, surveyed the yard in front of her home in the high-noon heat. It was hot and dry last Monday when the Signal Tribune toured her small garden. Many of the plants were meant to bloom in the spring, not summer. However, that day, there still were plenty of succulents, cacti and bougainvillea to catch the eye. Towards the front of her garden, a few tall purple flowers strained against a light breeze, standing defiant against the glare of the sun.
Janquart said that towards the evening, she enjoys the fragrance of the sage bushes that drifts into her home. Before she planted her drought-tolerant garden, the 67-year-old resident used to have a conventional lawn. But, in the fall and winter of 2010, Janquart participated in Long Beach’s Lawn-to-Garden Turf Replacement Program that’s offered by the City’s water department. After a few months in a program that requires her to take classes and acquire approval for her garden design, Janquart replaced her grass with a drought-friendly landscape.
She really doesn’t miss having a lawn that requires watering and mowing. The Long Beach resident explained that it felt like a waste of time and money in this particular climate. She prefers the garden that she has now.
For several years, Long Beach residents have been invited to participate in the Lawn-to -Garden Turf Replacement Program offered by the municipal water department. City staff took a picture of Mary Anne Janquart’s home in California Heights in 2010, just before she replaced her grass in favor of drought-tolerant landscaping.
“It’s just so much more attractive…the different heights and textures and colors than [that] flat green,” Janquart said as she compared her garden to the former lawn. “It just makes me more peaceful. I like to see it in bloom.”
And the big bonus for Janquart is that she only needs to water her garden about one time a week. Her water bill totals only about $25 per month on average, she said.
The turf-replacement program is only one of many efforts from the City of Long Beach to conserve the precious resource of water. Despite the fact that there is a drought, Long Beach has been able to reduce its water usage.
Reports available from the city’s water department show a trend of reduced water usage in recent months when compared to the previous year. In April of 2014, total water usage for Long Beach was down by six percent compared to April of 2013. Last May, there was no change in water usage compared to the same month the prior year. In June, water usage in Long Beach was down by 4 percent compared to the same month in 2013. Estimates for July 2014’s water usage may have a historical significance.
In 2010, Mary Anne Janquart removed the grass from her front yard at her home in California Heights and planted drought-tolerant landscaping. City staff from the Long Beach Water Department returned to photograph her yard after work was completed.
He looked at the preliminary reports on the total amount of water used by Long Beach in July 2014 and compared it to the city’s overall usage in July 1964.
Lyons estimated that the city used 13 percent less than the same month half a century ago.
“Our water-conservation efforts have been so successful in Long Beach that our demand looks like it’s going to be the lowest in well over 50 years,” said Lyons in a phone interview. He added that the population has increased by 29 percent in that time frame. The population in 1964 was 364,204. The population in 2014 is 470,292.
The Parks, Recreation & Marine Department is responsible for much of the water usage billed directly to the City of Long Beach. According to figures available from Ramon Arevalo, the maintenance-operations bureau manager for that department, there were 1,275 acres of irrigated area for parks and street islands in 2013. That year, the department’s water bill totaled $2.172 million for the 710,336,000 gallons that were used. About 42 percent of the water is potable, and 58 percent of the water is reclaimed.
The turf-replacement program in Long Beach is funded by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and the Long Beach Water Department. There are specific conditions that must be met, but the program offers to pay Long Beach residents $3.50 for every square foot of grass removed in favor of drought-friendly landscape.
There are fears that the efforts to save water now won’t fully address a critical water shortage. “Ultimately, I don’t think conservation is going to be the answer,” Signal Hill Mayor Ed Wilson said to the City Council during its meeting on July 29, “but it is the best answer we have now.”
Some succulent plants in Mary Anne Janquart’s home in California Heights come in unusual shapes and vibrant colors. Her yard has a mix of cacti and succulent plants that are known to be drought-friendly, but Janquart’s garden also includes other plants like bougainvillea, sage and lavender, which need less water to flourish.
Both cities earlier this year have put into place tougher standards for saving water. Diners at Long Beach restaurants must now expressly ask for water. They won’t automatically have a glass served to them.
Both the Cities of Signal Hill, with a few exceptions, and Long Beach now require that residents water their yards only three times a week.
Signal Hill Public Works Director Steve Myrter said that his department is making sure that the City is following the guidelines for conservation. He notes that residents are making a concerted effort as well to save water.
In Long Beach, the Parks, Recreation & Marine Department has a number of challenges during this drought season. Department director George Chapjian acknowledged that watering the landscaped street medians, the mature trees in the parks and the vast fields of grass takes up a vast amount of water resources. He added that his department has planned in its budget to replace antiquated watering systems. He noted that Heartwell Park, in particular, needs to update its system. The area is one mile long, and municipal workers must walk through the park, move a sprinkler head from one station to the next and manually turn the system on and off, Chapjian explained.
He said that his department will continue to cut back, adding that the City will look at areas that aren’t used a lot and will consider converting those areas to mulch or replace them with drought-tolerant plants. He said the focus will be on the turf grass and keeping the fields green for the kids for their play.
“We’re going to keep it as green as possible,” Chapjian added, “but there may be areas that are going to be brown!for lack of watering or reduction in watering. So we’re reducing.”
These efforts to save water are only part of an overall contingency plan that takes into consideration that the drought may not end soon. Even more restrictions could be put into place if the rainfall just isn’t enough this year. Water officials are hoping that this winter will not be dry again.
“We are dealing with uncertainty here,” Lyons of the Long Beach Water Department said. “We don’t know what the winter is going to be like. But if it’s a bad winter, we’re going to be in a real crisis.”
More Information
lblawntogarden.com
(562) 570-2300
cityofsignalhill.org
(click on “Water Conservation” )
(562) 989-7350
