By ERIC WOLFF – ewolff@nctimes.com | Posted: Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:20 pm
A water conservation rebate program aimed at businesses is out of money early, but there’s plenty left for homeowners, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Wednesday.
The $4.6 million commercial program, which was run by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, allowed businesses to get money back after purchasing water-efficient equipment and appliances. The program was so popular that it ran out of money on Dec. 26, six months before the end of the fiscal year.
The $6 million residential program allows homeowners to get rebates on everything from cooling towers to drought-friendly toilets, but it’s barely been tapped —- the program still has $5.4 million left to distribute before June 30.
“The commercial program is a little more organized. A lot of plumbing contractors took advantage of it,” said Bill Rose, Water Conservation Program Executive for the San Diego County Water Authority.
Some local water providers are offering their own incentives to pick up where Metropolitan left off, including the Western Municipal Water District (which serves Southwest Riverside County), Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, and the Valley Center Municipal Water District, but Rose said that before businesses make a purchase, they should check Met’s conservation Web site, socalwatersmart.com, to make sure a given product is eligible for a rebate.
Western has been matching Met’s rebate on synthetic turf and high-efficiency and waterless urinals. It has budgeted $100,000 for 500 urinals and $65,000 for 5 acres of synthetic turf.
Residential customers looking to get rebates should visit 20gallonchallenge.com or socalwatersmart.com to find out what products they can get money back on, and exactly how to go about getting their money.
Metropolitan’s conservation division has been ordered to stay on budget this year, after it spent $54 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year, well more than the $20 million allocation.
“The board was quite direct they would not exceed $19.1 million,” Rose said. Much of that money goes to other programs and administrative costs.
But $19.1 million is a tiny sliver of Metro’s $1.65 billion two-year budget.
“Conservation is a very inexpensive way to offset demand,” said Tim Barr, Water Efficiency Manager for Western. “I’d like to see more money used to water conservation measures.”
Call staff writer Eric Wolff at 760-740-5412.
