Date: June 11, 2003

Grants to fund new water conservation programs
in Santa Clara County

SAN JOSE - The Santa Clara Valley Water District has received $160,000 in grants for conservation programs that will save the county more than 600 million gallons of water valued at nearly $2 million over the next 20 years.

The grants - awarded in 2002 by the state Department of Water Resources from Proposition 13 grant money reserved for urban water conservation programs - are funding a rebate program to replace outdated residential water softeners and another program encouraging caretakers of large landscape sites in the county to install water meters for irrigation.

More information about the grants will be available during a public meeting Thursday, June 12, at the water district headquarters building, 5700 Almaden Expressway (one block south of Blossom Hill Road), San Jose.

The rebate program for replacing older, inefficient water softeners is expected to not only reduce demand on water imported from the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento Delta by more than 38 million gallons over the next 20 years, but will also reduce the amount of minerals, detergents and other cleaning compounds that could find their way into the Bay-Delta environment. The savings on imported water costs will save the community an estimated $120,000.

The rebate program, expected to begin this fall, provides partial refunds for the cost of purchasing and installing new water-softener equipment - but only to replace an existing water softener.

The other program funded by the Proposition 13 grant pays the cost of purchasing meters for watering landscaping sites that are at least one acre in size. In all, 200 rebates will be available through the program.

Knowing how much water is used for irrigation can enable managers of facilities with large landscapes to establish a water budget. Similar programs elsewhere have resulted in consumption savings of 20 percent-30 percent.

The program is expected to eventually reduce water usage by more than 570 million gallons in Santa Clara County over the next 20 years, saving the community approximately $1.8 million.

A secondary benefit of the program will be a decrease in runoff that could carry fertilizers or other chemicals into local creeks and to San Francisco or Monterey bays.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District manages Santa Clara County's wholesale drinking water resources, coordinates flood protection for its 1.7 million residents and provides stewardship for the county's 10 reservoirs and more than 700 miles of streams.