Earth Day 2015 arrives Wednesday with the 209 — and the rest of California — well into the fourth year of severe drought.

Cities throughout the region have been ordered by the state to slash water use by 25 to 35 percent. In addition to existing restrictions both the cities of Turlock and Manteca have indicated they are considering slashing the days that residents and businesses can water lawns and landscaping down to two times a week.

The reason is simple. The state Department of Water Resources notes that more than half of all water used by a typical California household goes to watering lawns. The easiest way to obtain mandated savings is to cut back on lawn watering.

And before you go pointing fingers at water waste in Los Angeles, things have flipped since the 1976-77 drought. No longer is LA the big water guzzler among California urban areas. Los Angeles currently uses 152 gallons per capita per day. That is lower than the state average of 196 gallons per capita and lower than all Central Valley cities including Manteca, Ripon, Lathrop, Ceres, Turlock and Oakdale. Fresno is at 313 gallons per capita and Sacramento is at 279 gallons per capita.

While the state cautions against comparing one segment of the state to another due to climate, it is clear that those with more money — that means larger lots and estates — consume more water. San Francisco with small yards and foggy weather is at 98 gallons per capita while down the road in a nearly identical climate the wealthy community of Hillsborough uses 334 gallons of water per capital. The same is true for Southern California. Palm Springs uses 736 gallons of water while Compton in East Los Angeles is at 42 gallons per capita.

Sure Palm Springs is in the desert but so is Ridgecrest with water use at 236 gallons per day.

So how are 209 cities responding to the challenge?

Here is what the City of Manteca is doing:

• Cutting watering to two days a week. City Manager Karen McLaughlin indicated staff will be asking the council to consider reducing days that landscaping is allowed to be watered for residential n businesses, and other water customers from the current three days to just two days.

• Restricting turf use in new front yard landscaping. This is targeted to become law by  July 2 although developers and builders can start complying immediately. Currently the municipal ordinance simply says front yards must be 35 percent landscaped but doesn’t specify with what. The new rule still requires 35 percent of the area of new front yards to be landscaped but no more than 25 percent of that reduced area can be planted in grass while the rest has to be live plant material with an emphasis placed on drought-resistant plant species.

Drought-resistant doesn’t mean cactus. While virtually all shrubs and trees that can be planted consumer significantly less water than lawns, there are some that require even less water once they are established.

The council at their May 5 meeting may make this a requirement as well for existing homes that are being sold to have in place before escrow can close.

Some have questioned why the city doesn’t allow them to put impervious material has as concrete over their entire front yard. Doing so would substantially increase storm run-off making flooding a major concern in neighborhoods.

As for eliminating sloped lawns, the uniform building code requires new construction to make sure water flows away from the base of buildings such as homes where it can cause serious structural concerns if it is allowed to pool over the years.

• Lawn-to-garden rebate. The city is targeting next week for the roll-out of a $100,000 six -month pilot rebate program giving residents and businesses $1 a square foot help convert lawns to drought-resistant landscaping. Residential rebates would be capped at $500 and businesses at $5,000. This is on top of the proposed state rebate.

Public Works Director Mark Houghton said a shift of even 10 percent of Manteca’s existing yards from grass to landscaping that is less after intensive coupled with other measures could go a long way to helping Manteca obtain a 25 percent reduction.  As a side note, Houghton knows how serious the drought is. He resides with his family in Sonora where many people due to an even more acute water shortage than the valley — were forced to let their lawns die last year.

• Suspend enforcement of the city’s ordinance relative to landscape care, maintenance and replacement. Those who would like to discontinue irrigation their landscaping this year and let their landscaping die to conserve water would be allowed to do so legally starting July 2. 

If they started letting their lawn die now, however, they won’t run the risk of being fined while the ordinance goes through its legal adaption process.

The only proviso is that whatever is left have to be keep below six inches in height. Fiore officials noted the city’s weed abatement ordinance requires all ground cover vegetation to be under six inches whether it is green or brown. At the same time any dead shrubs must be removed.

The suspension will allow for landscapes to die but front yard landscapes will still have to adhere to weed and trash nuisance code rules which do not allow for weeds higher than six inches.

• All new pools must have pool covers. Before the city signs off on a permit for new pools that are built, they must have a pool cover installed. Pool covers reduce water evaporation by 20 to 40 percent depending upon the study.

• Hiring two part-time water conservation ordinance enforcement assistants. They will work primarily outside of normal city business hours and on weekends to inspect properties to ensure compliance and also issue violation notices for properties not adhering to the regulations.

• Adopted an overall requirement to reduce city water use by 25 percent. While some effort has already been taken in that area, it will now be stepped up considerably. Such a plan would reduce overall watering in parks as well as in landscape maintenance districts and community facilities districts. The implementation of such a plan would emphasize not losing mature trees and plants, damaging the recreational value of some city facilities or creating a safety issue for recreation sports play in the parks. Through this plan more heavily used areas such as the golf course, Big League Dreams sports complex, Woodward Park, Morenzone Field and Northgate Park would have a reduced rate of water conservation ensuring that the turf would remain green in order to provide for numerous recreation activities. Other areas would make up for that by having reductions greater than 25 percent.

• Treated wastewater would be requirement for dust control during new construction. The city is now banning using drinking water for that purpose. The city will provide water free of charge via a purple fire hydrant at the wastewater treatment plant. This could be ready to go by May 11.

• Increase rebates for high-efficiency washing machines and low-flow toilet replacement. It will double rebates for such washers up from $50 to $100 and for toilets from $25 to $50 when they are purchased from a business within the City of Manteca.

• Drought tolerant model home requirement for new development. At least one model home will be required to have a no-turf, drought-tolerant front yard landscape.

• Established a water conservation citizen committee. In an effort to assess additional water conservation options and more explore the concepts with city residents, business owners and developers the council is establishing a Water Conservation Citizens Committee. It would consist of 10 members.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com