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To encourage its commercial and industrial customers to find ways to save water during the statewide drought, Palmdale Water District (PWD) for the first time is offering rebates to non-residential ratepayers.
Businesses can now apply for seven types of rebates. They are for landscape conversion, high-efficiency/dual flush toilets, moisture retaining soil additives, ultra-low/zero water urinals, weather-based irrigation controllers, rotating sprinkler nozzles and micro-irrigation conversion.
“In the spring when we began looking at ways to help our customers save water due to the pending drought, we knew we had to expand our reach to the commercial and industrial consumers,” said Resource and Analytics Supervisor Claudia Bolanos. “We need everyone to conserve water, so we focused on the high water users.”
Since April, PWD has asked all of its customers to voluntarily cut water use by 15%. The Water-Use Efficiency team has been working with the top water consumers to find ways to help them reduce use.
“We were pushing them to conserve and realized that we could help by offering rebates,” Bolanos said. “The financial incentives make it an easier sell when they go to their councils and boards to get approvals for changes that will reduce water use.”
The largest rebate available is through the Water-Wise Landscape Conversion Program, which gives commercial and residential customers up to $3,000 for removing turf and replacing it with drought-tolerant plants and/or hardscape. Applications must be approved by PWD before work begins.
On a smaller scale, but just as important for long-term water savings, are the $100 rebates for high-efficiency/dual flush toilets, $300 rebates for ultra-low/zero water urinals, $4/rotating sprinkler nozzle rebates and $40/bag rebate for moisture retaining soil additive. For a full list of rebates, visit palmdalewater.org.
