Metropolitan Board Takes Water Savings to the Next Level in Southern California; Board Increases Local Conservation Incentives by More Than 25 Percent.

LOS ANGELES -- Saving water in Southern California became even more affordable today as Metropolitan Water District's Board of Directors increased financial incentives by more than 25 percent for local conservation investments and expanded the inventory of devices eligible for rebates to include the latest high-efficiency models.

Under a revised core conservation program, Metropolitan will transition from providing rebates for ultra-low-flush toilets to high-efficiency models that use 20 percent less water, and the agency will increase the agency's annual financial commitment to conservation by as much as $5 million over the next five years.

"With this commitment, we're sending a strong message that Southern California plans to stay at the forefront of water conservation and is truly serious about encouraging everyone to use water as efficiently as possible," said Metropolitan board Chairman Wes Bannister.

"These upgrades to our conservation program provide a real link between water savings, environment benefits and fiscal responsibility," Bannister said. "We're creating a conservation climate that has the potential for even greater water savings without having to make sacrifices."

As part of a new five-year conservation strategy developed in coordination with its 26 member public agencies, Metropolitan will increase incentives to local agencies for new high-efficiency programs and devices from $154 for every acre-foot of conserved water to $195 per acre-foot up to 100 percent of the cost of a device. An acre-foot of water is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by two typical Southern California families in and around their homes in a year.

Metropolitan currently offers rebate packages for a variety of devices, including ultra-low-flush toilets and urinals, high-efficiency clothes washers, weather-sensitive irrigation controllers, waterbrooms, and cooling tower conductivity controllers. Customized incentive programs also are available to homeowners' associations for large landscapes and for industries that use water in processing or manufacturing. During 2005, Metropolitan issued approximately 300,000 rebates for devices that are now saving 9,000 acre-feet a year in Southern California.

Through today's action, Metropolitan will expand the rebate list to include high-efficiency toilets that save up to 14,000 gallons of water a year; high-efficiency urinals (20,000 gallons in annual savings); waterless urinals (40,000 gallons annually); cooling tower controllers that conserve up to 844,000 gallons annually; and connectionless food steamers that save more than 80,000 gallons a year.

"These are truly the next generation of water-saving devices," said Debra C. Man, Metropolitan interim chief executive officer and general manager. "When it comes to saving water, we have led the way in developing and promoting new technologies that will ultimately help us save more than 1.1 million acre-feet of drinking water a year by 2025."

While maintaining Metropolitan's innovative conservation program, which provides $250,000 in competitive grants every two years for research into new water-saving devices, technologies and systems, the board also created an enhanced conservation program. The enhanced conservation pilot program will award $4 million in competitive grants every other year to pilot and develop programs and improvements that maximize innovative water-saving devices and technologies.

Detailed information on Metropolitan's conservation and rebate programs can be found on the district's Web site, www.mwdh2o.com, and under the Rebates section of www.bewaterwise.com.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.