Helping residents to cut water use at home, West Basin
Municipal Water District directors Ronald Smith, Carol Kwan and Donald
Dear recently distributed 161 Smart(r) irrigation controllers to
residents within their respective divisions

with help from three
community organizations - Dance Peninsula Ballet, Hermosa Beach Kiwanis,
and Friends of Gardena Willows Wetlands Preserve.  A Smart(r) irrigation
controller can save an average of 47 gallons of water a day.  The 161
controllers distributed will save roughly 2.7 million gallons a year.

At West Basin's December 2009 board meeting, checks were presented to
each group to thank them for their assistance with the program:  Dance
Peninsula Ballet received $810, Hermosa Beach Kiwanis received $810, and
Friends of Gardena Willows received $795, based on the number of devices
distributed at each event.

West Basin's Green Garden program provides free outdoor residential
water audits to help homeowners conserve water, reduce runoff, make
their landscapes healthier, and determine whether they qualify for a
state-of-the-art irrigation controller and rotating sprinkler nozzle.
Audits are conducted by a professional landscape technician.  New
equipment is then given out at a "Green Garden" workshop, where
residents receive training for the devices, learn water-saving
techniques, and exchange their old water-wasting equipment for new
water-saving devices.  Once the resident installs the equipment, a
trained technician then follows up to make sure the device has been
installed properly and ensure the device is working as intended.  The
three nonprofit community organizations assisted with the exchange
events.

Conserving water at home by using less in your yard (which can be up to
70% of home water use) will help reduce your water bill and save
precious drinking water as we enter a fourth year of drought and face
limited fresh-water supplies.

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West Basin Municipal Water District is reducing its dependence on
imported water through the Water Reliability 2020 program that will
double conservation, double recycled water production and add desalted
ocean-water to our portfolio by the year 2020.  Partnering with
community organizations, businesses and other public agencies keeps West
Basin lean and strengthens its programs.  West Basin is a wholesale
water district that serves nearly a million people in 17 cities and
unincorporated areas throughout its 185-square mile service area.