Every Drop Counts: Water Conservation Tips & Reminders

As we enter the warmer and drier months of the year, we all must take a moment to review best practices for water conservation. While the City is not currently experiencing drought conditions, we must be vigilant, so we continue to ask the community to be mindful of water usage and conserve to ensure long-term resiliency.

The City is currently under Level 1 water conservation measures (the least restrictive standard measures). These measures are permanent and in effect at all times. Some key measures to remember:

Watering hours: Watering landscape and vegetated areas with potable water is prohibited between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. This significantly reduces evaporation, allowing more water to be delivered to the plants.

Watering days: Watering or irrigating landscape and vegetated areas with potable water is limited to three days per week.

Watering time limit: Watering or irrigating landscape and vegetated areas with potable water using a sprinkler system is limited to no more than 10 minutes of watering per day per station or irrigation zone. Water-efficient devices, such as rotator stream nozzles, are permitted to run for 20 minutes, and drip systems are allowed to run for up to 60 minutes.

Obligation to fix leaks, breaks, or malfunctions: Leaks should be fixed as soon as possible, but in no event more than seven (7) days of receiving notice from the City.

No excessive water runoff or overspray: Runoff, overspray, or excessive water flow from a property from potable water use or from irrigation of any landscape or vegetated areas onto an adjoining property, sidewalk, driveway, street, alley, gutter, or ditch is prohibited.

No irrigation after rainfall: Irrigation during and within the 48 hours following rainfall measuring 0.25 inches or more is prohibited. 

Turf/Grass: Irrigation of non-functional grass on commercial, institutional, and industrial properties is prohibited. This includes HOA-maintained landscape areas in condominiums, townhomes, and apartment complexes. Designation of turf as functional (actively used for civic, community, or recreational purposes) requires application and approval of a waiver by the City.

Landscapes on single-family residential properties are not included in the ordinance. However, 70% of our water is used for outside irrigation. Replacing your lawn can be a great way to conserve water and reduce your monthly water bill. The Metropolitan Water District offers a rebate for removing water-intensive lawns and turf. Currently, the rebate is $2.00 per square foot, up to 5,000 square feet, for residential properties, and $3.00 per square foot, up to 50,000 square feet, for commercial properties. For information on turf replacement rebates, click here. Applicants can also receive an additional $100 per tree, up to a maximum of five trees.

Other water conservation considerations:

Pools and Spas: It is highly recommended that outdoor swimming pools and spas be covered when not in use. Uncovered pools use as much water (losing it through evaporation) as lawns. Nearly all of this can be conserved by covering your pool. You will also save money on heating the pool as the cover will retain the pool’s heat.

Maintaining a pool’s water quality can also reduce water loss. Deploying a high-performance filter and utilizing skimmers and vacuums to remove leaves and debris manually can help maintain clean water and reduce the need for filter backwashes and extensive cleaning.

Water leaks also contribute to water loss. Leaks can be found in the pool liner, pump seal, pool piping, pool-to-pipe connections, pool edges, and in pipe joints. If your pool is losing more than 2 inches of water per week, or 3 inches in hot, dry areas with high evaporation rates, then it is likely that there is a leak. Wet spots around the pool, or air bubbles in the water return pipeline or in the pump strainer, can also be signs of leakage.

Showers: Replace inefficient showerheads with WaterSense-labeled models.

Laundry: When doing laundry, always try to wash full loads. Also, consider replacing your old washer with a High-Efficiency clothes washer. High-Efficiency washers use 55% less water than standard washers. Rebates are available for many high-efficiency products. To learn about SoCal WaterSmart rebates from The Metropolitan Water District, click here.

Monitor water usage: If the City of Thousand Oaks provides your water, you can sign up for a free EyeOnWater account to track your water usage and set leak alerts. For instance, the house below has a 12-gallon-per-hour leak, which is shown in their account, but they have not signed up for leak alerts. This household used 351 gallons on July 7, but 288 of those gallons were attributed to a leak. Sign up here to be notified of leaks and help keep your bill down.

Report water waste: You can report water waste by calling our hotline at (805) 375-5747, using our City service request system, or by email at gogreen@toaks.gov.

For more tips on home water conservation, click here.

For additional City water conservation information visit: https://toaks.gov/water-conservation.