Palo Alto-Los Altos Homes- Landscape Watering Rules Start Soon!
State Law Requires Reduced Water Consumption
All cities are required to enact new regulations by Sunday to reduce water consumption or follow a new state law. Will large, green lawns become a luxury of a bygone era?
Palo Alto has proposed a new ordinance requiring any new commercial property with 1,500 sf or more or new residential home with 2,500 sf or more of “watering area” to get a building license or landscape permit.
How Will Requiring Permits Reduce Water Consumption?
It is unclear how cities will limit potential landscape water consumption when issuing permits(or do they just want more revenue?!). Palo Alto is proposing limited watering hours to between 6 pm and 10 am, as well as banning lawns on substantially sloped lots.
Los Altos is sure to propose new landscape watering rules too. We will write about the rules as they are issued so stay in touch.
If you hear of any local discussion of the new rules please let us know!
A state law? How will this work in Palm Springs, where one is REQUIRED to water the desert, er, lawn and keep it green?
90% of California water use is for lawn watering. We don’t have a water shortage problem: we have a lawn watering problem. Switch the landscaping and gardening to original California plants and the water shortage disappears.