LA Recycling Program Leads to Questions About Water Waste

Mayor Eric Garcetti along with Councilman Felipe Fuentes turned the knob Friday on the first watering system at Hansen Dam that's 100 percent recycled waste water.

The mayor touted his October directive for the city to lower its water usage by 20 percent by 2017 as an ambitious but attainable goal, the Hansen Dam project one example.

The golf course will use about 170 million gallons of the recycled water every year, an amount that's roughly the same amount of water 1000 households in LA use in a year.

The city had to fund the project to pipe in the water direct from the city's water treatment plant and the mayor said more projects are on the table.

"Roosevelt Golf Course, you're next," Garcetti said.

The water comes from all the used water from the city, it's cleaned and treated at the plant and is not drinkable, but it usable as a watering aid.

But during the news conference Friday morning on the 9th Hole of the Golf Course, an LA resident and general contractor, Scott Sterling, asked the mayor a pointed question.

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"I want to keep the water on the property as much as possible," he told the mayor. "So I want to know what you're doing to help with that."

Garcetti explained his Low-Impact Development Ordinance (LID) which requires new builds to recycle their own water for their own use, but said the city was still looking at ways to do the same on a smaller-scale, for residential homeowners.

"So often I have to take the water out to the street and then it has to go through expensive processes to get recycled," Sterling said. "I want to keep the water on our property."

LA Department of Water and Power's Assistant General Manager of the Water System said it's a tough topic.

"You have to be careful," Marty Adams said. "Because you're dealing with waste streams and so it has to be done correctly."

At issue is the sanitation around using waste water without treating it. The city does offer rebates for those who change their lawns into drought-tolerant landscapes and for those who collect rainwater for later usage.

And yet while the city works to reuse water and touts lower overall usage by residents, water waste continues in some neighborhoods. The LADWP Water Conservation Response Unit said it relies on neighbors and drive-bys to catch people who water their laws between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and on their "off" days.

"We try to look into every single one," said Rick Silva, the Unit's supervisor. "But some don't have enough information to act on."

Silva said of the 1,000 complaints over the last year, only 50 were cited — and of those, only 4 faced a financial penalty.

Silva admits, though, even the financial fines have not been paid, saying, "As long as we get the change we want or get them to comply, that's the main purpose of our program and we're OK with that."

Residents who may be concerned about water waste can call 1-800-DIAL-DWP or use the My311LA app to report it.

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