WHAT:

State and local water leaders will usher in the start of spring and honor World Water Day by calling on the public to significantly and urgently increase their efforts to save water, highlighting the biggest opportunity to conserve is outside – reduce watering, use water-efficient devices, and replace grass with beautiful native plants that require much less irrigation and restore biodiversity.

WHEN:

Monday, March 21, 10:30 a.m.

WHERE:

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants, headquarters and nursery, 10459 Tuxford St., Sun Valley. It will also be live-streamed on YouTube.

PARTICIPANTS:

California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot; Metropolitan Water District General Manager Adel Hagekhalil; Metropolitan board Chairwoman Gloria D. Gray; Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Assistant Director of Water Resources Delon Kwan; Theodore Payne Executive Director Evan Meyer

Note: interviews also will be available with Brandy Williams, owner of landscape design business Garden Butterfly and South L.A. resident whose own home is part of the Theodore Payne Foundation’s 2022 Native Plant Garden Tour.

VISUALS:

Theodore Payne’s nursery is filled with California native plants that are available for sale to the public, officials planting California natives in a demonstration garden.

B-roll of reservoirs, conservation gardens, interview with Brandy Williams, available here

BACKGROUND:

After the driest January and February in recorded history, this winter failed to provide much-needed relief to California’s drought, now in its third year. State reservoir levels remain far below average and continue dropping, compelling the California Department of Water Resources today to reduce the allocation of water Southern California will receive from the State Water Project to a mere 5 percent.

SWP deliveries from Northern California typically provide about 30 percent of the water used in the Southland. Some Southern California communities have few other sources of water besides the SWP. The residents and businesses in these communities, including parts of Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, especially need to immediately reduce their water use to ensure water reliability into the summer and fall. Californians can visit SaveOurWater.com and bewaterwise.com for easy and actionable water saving ideas and tips.