Conservation must be a habit

Cities throughout the Southland this week reported that their residents had either met or exceeded water saving goals so far this summer, a political victory amid all those annoying conservation commercials.

Perhaps there’s nothing like multiple dry brush fires and blackened skies to hammer those drought warnings home, or maybe residents are starting to finally come around to the idea that lush is no longer sustainable. Either way, news this week that residents in Burbank, Glendale and La Crescenta had reduced their water consumption by between 10% and 22% was heartening, especially given the previous hard sell with the voluntary conservation messages.

Yes, the fact that Glendale and the Crescenta Valley Water District have imposed, along with most cities, strict irrigation restrictions no doubt had a hand in the steep drop, but it still required a certain amount of buy in from the public.

Burbank has yet to adopt mandatory controls, but even there, utility officials reported “a marked” decrease in water use — there have been brown lawns to prove it.

On the back end, local nurseries have also reported an increased customer interest in drought tolerant and California native plants, while some homeowners have been pushing harder for artificial turf as a frontyard alternative.

The confluence of trends leads us to believe that property owners really are waking up to a different landscape, one where potable water is becoming more of a luxury. We only hope that the routines being put in place now carry through the winter, and on to next summer and beyond.

Only when these restrictions become a fact of life, and then habit, will we truly see an impact to our region’s persistent water woes.