Beckie Brown hated wasting water to keep thegrass green, despised paying a gardener to mowand blow and just wanted to get rid of the turf.

Today, she sees nothing but native shrubs inher yard – courtesy of water district rebates.

“It just was ridiculous to methat the norm is for people to havegreen lawns when we live in a des-ert,” Brown said. “I think we needto evolve and get a little more en-lightened.”

Brown is part of a growinggroup of homeowners acrossSouthern California who are tear-ing out grass to battle one of theworst dry spells in history – andseeing savings.

Water agencies are offering re-bates to customers who remove

their lawns and install drought-tolerant plants or artificial turf.For example, the MetropolitanWater District of Southern Cali-fornia, a consortium of cities andwater districts that provides wa-ter to nearly 19 million people,doubled its rebate rate in May to

Landscapingby rebate

Landscapingby rebate

Installing drought-tolerantplants or artificial turf after

removing lawns gives SouthernCalifornia residents big bucks.

Installing drought-tolerantplants or artificial turf after

removing lawns gives SouthernCalifornia residents big bucks.

ANA VENEGAS, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Beckie Brown of Mission Viejorecently renovated her back-yard from lawn to drought-tolerant landscaping. She re-ceived a $2-per-square-footrebate from the Santa Margar-ita Water District.

21 million square feet:Turf removed through the Met-ropolitan Water District ofSouthern California’s rebateprogram, which began in 2008.

28,350 acre-feet: Watersaved through the MWDSC turfremoval program.

56,700: Single-familyhomes that can live on thesaved water for a year.

$13.8 million: The amountof rebates paid to MWDSC resi-dents through the turf-removalprogram.Source: Metropolitan Water District ofSouthern California

BY TOMOYA SHIMURA

STAFF WRITER

FIRST OF TWO PARTS

CUTTING BACKEmergency regulationsto curb urban outdoorwater use approved inJuly by the State Wa-ter Resources ControlBoard took effect Tues-day.The regulations willlast 270 days unlessextended or repealed.Californians are nowforbidden from:● Washing down drive-ways and sidewalks● Watering outdoorlandscapes in any waythat causes runoff● Using a hose to washa motor vehicle, unlessthe hose has a shut-offnozzle● Using potable waterin a fountain or waterfeature, unless thewater is recirculated

SEE REBATES ● PAGE 1 9

MORE ON WATERWhich conservation tips work? And

wait till ya meet Lawn Dude. News 18

An endearing bunch ofmisfits rides to therescue in Marvel’snewest flick.

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DOW DIVES 317 POINTS,ERASING JULY’S GAINS

Worries sent the DowJones industrial averagetumbling more than 300points, its worst one-daydrop since February. Theplunge snapped a string offive straight monthly gainsand pushed the blue-chipindex to a slight loss for theyear. BUSINESS 1

INSIDE

ISRAEL, HAMAS AGREE TO 72-HOUR CEASE-FIRE

A 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire,announced by the U.N. and U.S., takeseffect between Israel and Gaza. NEWS 14

RECESS DELAYED FORIMMIGRATION IMPASSE

House Republicans will try to pass aplan on child migrants; some blameSen. Ted Cruz for the impasse. NEWS 4

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Closing16,563.30

CAROLYN KASTER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOR SALE: KING OF POP’SNEVERLAND RANCH

Neverland Ranch, the Los Olivos property where thelate entertainer Michael Jackson lived, may soon get anew owner. The ranch, bought by Jackson in 1988 andturned into an amusement park and zoo, is being pre-pared for sale by Thomas Barrack Jr.’s Colony CapitalLLC and is assessed at $30.3 million. NEWS 12

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Rates on individual Oba-macare policies in Califor-nia will rise by an average of4.2 percent next year, show-

ing thatcompetitionis keepingprices incheck, thestate ex-change saidThursday.

PeterLee, execu-tive direc-tor of theCoveredCaliforniaexchange,said thatafter yearsof double-digit pre-mium in-creases,the Afford-able Care

Act is living up to its name.He cited a recent CaliforniaHealthcare Foundation re-port showing an average in-crease of 10 percent on theindividual market from 2011to 2014.

“The individual market isnow more competitive thanit’s ever been before, andconsumers have the powerof choice,” Lee said.

The average rate in-creases will vary by region:● In Orange County, where131,804 people signed up forcoverage, the increase is 6.3percent. ● In San Bernardino andRiverside counties, 122,971people enrolled and will seean increase of 4.5 percent. ● Los Angeles County issplit into two pricinggroups, one of which will in-crease by an 4.4 percent,the other by 4.3 percent. Intotal, 400,889 Los AngelesCounty residents signed up

HEALTHRATES

TO RISE 4%Average

insuranceincrease called

‘very reasonable’by researcher.

COURTNEYPERKES

STAFFWRITER

SEE RATES ● PAGE 1 6An internal investigation

of the CIA released Thursdayfound that five of its em-ployees inappropriatelyhacked into Senate intelli-gence committee computerson a shared network.

The report says the em-ployees were looking for a re-view by the Senate that con-demned CIA interrogationmethods involving al-Qaidadetainees as brutal and un-necessary.

CIA Director John Bren-nan issued an apology for theincident after he spent sever-al months denying accusa-tions directed toward theagency, which primarilycame from California Sen.Dianne Feinstein. News 3

CIA admitsemployees

hacked Senatecomputers

6.3%The increasein Obamacareinsurancerates in O.C.>> 131,804people signedup in O.C.

SEC: News DT: 08-01-2014 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 1 PG: Cover_A BY: mdell TI: 07-31-2014 22:17 CLR: CMYK

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Meet Lawn Dude. A recovering “watera-

holic,” according to hisTwitter profile, he still in-dulges in the wet stuff twotimes a week.

Soon, you’ll see his spikygreen hair shining brighton 25 digital billboardsowned by Clear ChannelOutdoor across Orangeand Los Angeles counties.The billboard giant an-nounced Thursday it’spartnering with a nonprof-it education group, theSouthern California WaterCommittee, to help get outthe message about restric-tions on outdoor water useduring the historicdrought.

In one sign, the grasscreature brandishes way-farers and a daisy-gar-nished martini glass, brag-ging about only drinkingtwice a week. In another, afrightened Dude holds hishands up and yells, “Don’those me, man!” as an omi-nous garden hose threat-ens.

“He’s “basically a char-acter that you can connectwith,” said Layne Lawson,director of public affairsfor Clear Channel Out-door.

The green guy receivedpraise from many water-minded government offi-cials Thursday.

“I love Lawn Dude,” saidFrances Spivy-Weber, vicechairman of the State Wa-

ter Resources ControlBoard. “I think SouthernCalifornia will read themessage because they willsmile when they see him.”

Lawson emphasizedthat “digital is perfect forthis concept” because of“dynamic visuals” and the“ability to change on an in-stant’s notice.”

Announcing the use ofdigital billboards for thecampaign comes as L.A.’sbillboard industry hasbeen locked in a conten-tious political battle withCity Hall over such sig-nage for years. It culmi-nated in a court-orderedshut-off of almost 100 dig-ital signs last year. Thecity is expected to take upthe matter of all outdooradvertising sometime thismonth.

Dennis Hathaway, pres-ident of the L.A.-basedCoalition to Ban BillboardBlight, said he sees the an-nouncement as “a big partof Clear Channel (Out-door)’s PR effort on behalfof digital billboards,” anadvertising method hesaid creates light pollutionand traffic hazards andhogs energy.

Clear Channel Outdoorspokesman Lawson saiddonating ad space for con-servation messages was“absolutely not” a politicalmove, adding the organi-zation donates $12 millionworth of nonprofit adspace each year in South-ern California.

KELLIE MEJDRICH, STAFF

Miniaturebillboarddisplaysshow thefirst twodesigns forLawn Dudedigital bill-boards.

The ‘Lawn Dude’abides

BY KELLIE MEJDRICH

STAFF WRITER

What have you done toconserve water during ourcontinuing drought? Ifyou’re like most of us, notmuch.

Water usage in SouthernCalifornia has actually goneup since Gov. Jerry Brownasked us to cut back.

The only person I knowwho’s really taken any ac-tion is my friend Maryanne,who replaced her backyardwith artificial turf. Andeven that doesn’t count:Her backyard was com-pletely dead and didn’t useany water anyway.

So it was with great in-terest that I looked at themailer from the Water Re-plenishment District ofSouthern California, whichI’d never heard of beforeand in which I apparentlylive. In this “SpecialDrought Edition,” the dis-trict offers “16 Great Tipsfor Beating the Drought.”

As a public service – notto mention a great opportu-nity to ridicule an obscuregovernment agency – let’stake a look at its tips, someof which we’ll actually learnfrom.

TIPS FOR YOUR HOME“Check faucets and

pipes for leaks. A small dripfrom a worn faucet washercan waste 20 gallons of wa-ter per day.” OK, makessense.

“Check your toilets forleaks. Put a little food col-oring in your toilet tank andcheck in 30 minutes to see ifthe color begins to appearin the bowl.” I guess a littlescience experiment isworth saving water, even ifit involves the toilet.

“Use your water meterto check for hidden water

leaks. Read the house wa-ter meter before and after atwo-hour period when nowater is being used. If themeter does not read exactlythe same, there is a leak.”This is actually a pretty coolidea. Too bad my condobuilding doesn’t have indi-vidual water meters.

“Install water-savingshowerheads and low-flowfaucet aerators.” I did thisa few years ago; it was easyand inexpensive. The low-flow aerator I put on mybathroom spigot claims touse 55 percent less water,but I think it’s even better:The water is so aerated thatI don’t dare put it on full-blast, or it would aerate allover the place.

“Insulate your waterpipes.” Can’t do. Condo.Next.

“Take shorter showers.A four-minute shower usesapproximately 20 to 40 gal-lons of water.” I already dothat, too, but generally justbecause I’m running late.

“Turn off the water afteryou wet your toothbrush.”This is another great idea,which I’ve done for years.Sure, it will seem odd thefirst few times you turn offthe water while brushing,but in no time it will becomesecond nature. You’ll save

several gallons each timeyou brush. Do the samewhen you’re shaving, too.

“Use your dishwasherand clothes washer for onlyfull loads.”

“Keep a bottle of drink-ing water in the fridge.Running tap water to cool itoff for drinking water iswasteful, so store drinkingwater in the fridge.” As luckwould have it, my refriger-ator died during the wee-kend, so unfortunately Ican’t currently follow thissuggestion. And although Imay not be saving any wa-ter, at least I’m saving elec-tricity.

TIPS FOR YOUR YARDAND GARDEN

Hmm, I live in a condoand have neither a yard nora garden. But maybe thesewill help you.

“Plant drought-resis-tant lawns, shrubs andplants. If you are planting anew lawn, or over-seedingan existing lawn, usedrought-resistant grasses.Many beautiful shrubs andplants thrive with far lesswatering than other spe-cies.” So does concrete orAstroturf.

“Put a layer of mulcharound trees and plants –2-4 inches of mulch will

slow evaporation of mois-ture while discouragingweed growth.”

“Don’t water the gut-ter.”

“Water your lawn onlywhen it needs it. Mostlawns only need about 1 inchof water each week. Duringdry spells, you can stop wa-tering altogether and thelawn will go brown and dor-mant but will revive in cool-er weather when watered.”Hey, Maryanne, maybeyour lawn was just dor-mant?

“Deep-soak your lawn.When watering the lawn, doit long enough for the mois-ture to soak down to theroots where it will do themost good.” Let me get thisright: We’ll save water byusing more of it?

“Water during the earlyparts of the day. Earlymorning is generally betterthan dusk since it helps pre-vent the growth of fungusand reduces water loss toevaporation.”

And finally ...“Use a broom, not a

hose, to clean drivewaysand sidewalks.” An excel-lent recommendation, es-pecially since hosing yourdriveway was just outlawedby the State Water Re-sources Control Board.

And there you have it.There’s got to be at least acouple of tips in there thatyou can put to use. And thatwill make the folks at theWater Replenishment Dis-trict, whoever they are,darn proud.

David Medzerian is a senioreditor for the Register; hiscolumn appears Fridays inthe Los Angeles Register.Reach him at dmedzerian@losangelesregister.com.

WHICH CONSERVATION TIPSACTUALLY HOLD WATER?

JEFF GRITCHEN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Watering in the morning is generally better than duskbecause it helps reduce water loss from evaporation.

BY DAVID MEDZERIAN

STAFF COLUMNIST

SEC: News DT: 08-01-2014 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 18 PG: PageM_A BY: mdell TI: 07-31-2014 21:36 CLR: CMYK