'Blueprint' guides Water Authority's efforts

SAN DIEGO — Motivating more homeowners and businesses to install low-water-use landscapes, expanding incentives for purchasing “smart” irrigation controllers and other water-saving devices, and reducing overwatering via a sophisticated, Web-based “water budget” program are cornerstones of the San Diego County Water Authority’s new five-year Blueprint for Water Conservation.

The Blueprint, approved by the Water Authority board in late July, serves as a roadmap for creating and implementing new, long-range residential and commercial water conservation programs across the San Diego region. It stems from strategies developed jointly by water, business and community leaders at the region’s inaugural Water Conservation Summit in September 2006.

“The Blueprint is a significant, groundbreaking initiative to provide a comprehensive, cooperative plan for effective water conservation that builds on more than a decade of successful conservation programs,” said Water Authority Board Chair Fern Steiner. “The Blueprint will continue to evolve as we work with our member retail water agencies and business, agricultural, environmental and community stakeholders to implement the programs outlined.”

The Blueprint refocuses the region’s water-savings efforts from the historic emphasis on indoor residential use to outdoor and commercial, institutional, and industrial water use. It takes into account the need to pilot-test, forecast savings and evaluate results of programs to ensure they are cost-effective for the Water Authority, its member agencies, industries and homeowners. The Blueprint is available at http://www.waterconservationsummit.com/BlueprintDraft.pdf.