DWR Direct Action Contract Task #5:
Dedicated Irrigation Meter Management for CII Accounts
Background:
The California Urban Water Conservation Council developed a Handbook for BMP No. 5 for large landscapes in 1999 that offered prescriptive water efficiency methods for large landscapes with dedicated irrigation meters, primarily in the Commercial Industrial Institutional (CII) sector and including multi-family residential. Specifically, these methods included 1) developing water use budgets, including options for obtaining landscape measurements and weather data; and 2) offering supplemental landscape programs (i.e. financial incentives, training and education, encouraging dedicated meter installation, etc.).
In 2017 the Council transformed into the California Water Efficiency Partnership.
Considerable work in the large landscape area has been done since the Handbook was published, including updates to BMP 5 (see page 2). Therefore, CalWEP will follow-up with water member agencies that have utilized these methods, or similar, and will summarize best practices and lessons learned by these agencies.
Action Items:
CalWEP will conduct research and outreach to water agencies in order to inform the following deliverables:
BMP 5 Landscape (updates as of December 10th, 2008)
Accounts with Dedicated Irrigation Meters
Recreational areas (portions of parks, playgrounds, sports fields, golf courses, or school yards in public and private projects where turf provides a playing surface or serves other high-use recreational purposes) and areas permanently and solely dedicated to edible plants, such as orchards and vegetable gardens, may require water in addition to the water use budget. (These areas will be referred to as “recreational” below.) The water agency must provide a statement designating those portions of the landscape to be used for such purposes and specifying any additional water needed above the water use budget, which may not exceed 100% of ETo on an annual basis.
If the California Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance is revised to reduce the water allowance, this BMP will be revised automatically to reflect that change.