Article 16

Vallecitos Water District

Making a Splash with Money for Conservation

Special to San Marcos Magazine

Taking into consideration conservation’s important role to the region’s overall water-supply future, water wholesalers sank more money into conservation-specific programs, creating a splash that ripples all the way to Vallecitos Water District (VWD) and its customers.

San Diego County is in the middle of a water-source diversification process that will tap conservation to make up 20 percent of the total water supply by 2020. With $1,327,957 in funding, a bridge to that goal has been paved to bolster traditional Vallecitos water saving programs such as waterbrooms, landscape conservation programs, and high-efficiency washing machines.

Recently, the region’s overall conservation effort has managed to curb water use, resulting in net savings of 45,651 acre-feet or approximately a whopping 15-million gallons. The additional funds will assist VWD and its wholesaler - the San Diego County Water Authority - in achieving the long-term goal of 100,000 acre-feet of water savings annually by 2030.

The largest portion of this money is being taken outside. A budgeted $695,114 has been put to good use, promoting weather-based irrigation controllers that feature the technology to automatically function only when the turf requires it. Along with funding vouchers for these devices, further efforts will be placed on other landscape conservation outreach strategies, such as a water conservation summit, and a study on certification and training of landscape contractors and gardeners.

Furthermore, an additional $125,000 has been allotted for business-specific conservation plans such as the Commercial, Industrial, Institutional Program. Participants will be able to benefit from the point-of-purchase vouchers, giving incentives for the purchase of water-efficient equipment such as toilets, washing machines, waterless urinals, pre-rinse spray valves, and conductivity cooling towers to name a few.

Water districts are looking to build on the conservation programs of the past, which saw voucher-issue totals climb to 1,148 high-efficiency commercial clothes washers and 1,539 ultra-low-flush toilets.

Along with Vallecitos and its wholesalers, the sudden conservation cash windfall is the result of using approximately $1 million available in grant funds awarded by the state under Proposition 13 and administered by the State Department of Water Resources.

The financial push and program support demonstrates the importance of this precious resource to our region and how legislation trickling down from elected officials to benefit water providers and users are making innovative water conservation available for all. SMM

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