Adapt or dry up

Part 2 of a 2-part story: Last month, we spoke with several growers about how the drought has affected their business, and the steps they have taken to conserve water. Read part one online here: http://bit.ly/NMCaliDrought.
 

Big changes are afoot in California. From the first-ever mandatory statewide water use restrictions, to voluntary concessions, to educational efforts, the drought has had far-reaching consequences.

“The 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 drought is just that: a four-year drought with no end in sight, which is pretty unsettling for everyone who’s concerned about where the water’s going to come from or if it’s going to show up in the next rainy season,” says Doug Carlson, information officer with California’s Department of Water Resources.

California relies on snowpack from the Sierra Nevada mountains for 35-40 percent of its water in a normal year.

The Department of Water Resources measures how many inches of water are in the snowpack, and as of May 21, the state was at 2 percent of its average amount. It has never been lower.

With so little snow in the mountains, there is almost no runoff water available to replenish what is normally used from California’s reservoirs – which are also far below normal levels.

That cocktail of extreme conditions prompted Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandatory water use restrictions, which called for 25 percent reductions in urban water use compared to 2013 levels, and the replacement of grass with drought-tolerant plants.

With a few exceptions, the state’s agriculture industry, which uses 80 percent of the state’s water, is not served by municipal systems. It is largely exempt from the governor’s mandatory restrictions. Farmers and growers are served by an irrigation district, have their own wells, or they have water that’s delivered through either the state or federal government water delivery projects, says Max Gomberg, senior environmental scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board. The local water districts have to deal with their own requirements and restrictions, imposed by the State Water Resources Control Board, and based on 2014 use. That determines whether a water district is directed to cut its water use 36 percent, 24 percent, 12 percent or 8 percent, Gomberg says.

There are several different classes of water rights in California. In 1914, the Water Commission Act created a major water revolution in which Californians who had established water rights before 1914 were deemed to have senior water rights and anyone since has junior water rights.

“Last year, for the first time ever, the resources control board told junior rights holders that they had to stop using water if it was impacting the ability of senior rights holders on the same water course to draw water because of the water reductions and the natural flow of things,” Carlson says.

But as the drought has worsened, even senior rights holders are making concessions. On May 22, the state approved a proposal from a coalition of farmers with senior water rights to voluntarily reduce their consumption by 25 percent. The proposal was designed to avoid potential mandatory cuts in the future.

With no end in sight, California growers have to adapt to the new climate reality.

“California and the rest of the Western U.S. always has drought cycles, but climate change is making those drought cycles worse,” Gomberg says. “Climate change is raising temperatures, it’s reducing snowpack, which is the biggest stored reservoir of water for the summer months, it’s creating the conditions for more and more severe forest fires, and it’s really changing the hydrology of the state. So we are vulnerable to droughts like this one and future droughts, and conservation is the quickest and most cost-effective way to create resiliency for drought periods.”

 

Educate your customer

As a grower with a retail presence, Scott Klittich has the opportunity to educate the consumer directly about water conservation and horticulture. The homeowners at the end of the supply chain don’t think they can keep a plant alive under the state’s water restrictions, and growers and retailers need to help them understand that they can. Klittich is the chairman of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers and owner of Fillmore, Calif.-based Otto & Sons Nursery. He uses email newsletters as a way to educate customers about water conservation. Topics covered include drip irrigation, water management, and how to monitor your sprinkler clocks.

“The one good thing about the drought is it is making everyone more aware of their yards and landscaping,” Klittich says. “Constantly having the drought on the front page of the newspaper is bringing everyone’s focus to their landscape and gardens. That’s a good thing that they are looking at their gardens and seeing how they can improve upon them.”

Klittich has urged CANGC members to have conversations with their customers about using mulch to reduce water evapotranspiration and feed their soil. Explain drip irrigation, he says, or how to use organic fertilizer so you don’t get a big push of growth. These are conversations many retailers are already having with their customers, but now that the drought has heightened everyone’s awareness of water conservation and importance, they are happening more frequently. Green industry businesses are ideally positioned for a role as drought expert.

“Nurseries are the go-to resource for that information,” Klittich says. “Every nursery I’ve been to, those that are promoting that they are the place to find that information are more successful than those that are just sitting back.”

In February, CANGC brought industry experts together for the Drought Awareness Clinic, an event which examined the drought from a broad perspective, from the plant level, and covered practical applications to increase resilience. You can watch the clinic at this link: http://bit.ly/CANGCclinic.

Village Nurseries is also working on customer outreach. The Orange, Calif.-based grower aims to launch a marketing campaign that simply states, “Save Water — Stay Green.” The focus of the campaign is to try to educate the end users as well as the professionals that even in times of drought you can still have a beautiful landscape if you select the right plants and irrigation practices. David House, CEO of Village Nurseries, points to examples like Australia, which maintained a beautiful landscape in the midst of a 13-year drought. He hopes the campaign will gain traction and be picked up by others in the industry, including major retailers.

“We’re one of the larger commercial nurseries in the country, but relative to the Home Depots and Lowes and the impact they could have, we’re a small guy in the industry,” he says.

That’s the long-term objective, but in the short term, House will push the campaign out through local media and industry-related media, as well as Village Nurseries’ website and e-newsletters.

The nursery also plans to print several thousand rubber wristbands with the slogan to be distributed at its landscape centers.

“We are in an extreme drought right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of landscaping,” House says. “The fact is, landscaping adds value to real estate. Whether you’re a homeowner, homebuilder or commercial real estate developer, you’re going to want to have a landscape and you’re going to want that landscape to look as nice as it possibly can, because it adds value and it’s good for the environment.”
 

Silver lining

Last year, Los Angeles started offering a $3.75 rebate on every square foot of grass homeowners rip out and replace with a drought-friendly landscape. Similar rebate programs have taken off throughout the state through local water agencies. On May 26, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted to increase funding for its turf-removal program by $350 million for one year, but will also change certain terms and conditions of the extremely popular program. The residential rebate program’s original $100-million budget was depleted quickly due to a surge in demand after the governor’s restrictions went into effect.

The district voted to cap the total reimbursement for residential customers at $6,000, paying $2 per square foot of lawn removed. Previously there was no square footage limit.

The rebate programs have been a boon for growers that offer drought-tolerant plants, especially growers that sell to landscapers.

“The municipal rebates that were given back through counties and the different regional water districts and agencies to remove turf has created a real opportunity for us as far as increased plant sales,” House says.

Klittich has also noticed an increase in interest and sales of drought-tolerant plants from his landscaper customers. Although it hasn’t made up for the overall losses this spring, it has helped.

“We’ve actually seen an uptick on that business because there is a lot of water provider money available for pulling lawns out and putting plants in with drip irrigation.” Klittich says.
 

Historical context

The last drought that buckled California this badly took place in 1976 and 1977. Sam Sandoval Solis, assistant professor and cooperative extension specialist in water management with University of California-Davis says there was actually less available water during that drought. But with fewer residents, the demand was exponentially lower, so it didn’t have the impact of the current drought.

Luen Miller, the president and co-owner of Monterey Bay Nursery was in California for the drought of ’77, and he believes the state will rally yet again.

“I’ve been through this once before and I know exactly how far you can cut back on water, and the answer is a shocking amount for personal use,” he says. “You can get by with very little. People seem to find a way to take care of their plants. They take a shorter shower and they put some on the plants, or they put a container on the lawn so the lawn gets water when they water the container, or you use gray water.”

House hopes that the current drought will rewire Californians to think of their state as, essentially, a desert. The horticultural community should set the example, and be good stewards with the state’s limited water resources.

“Thinking and landscaping this way is something we need to continue, whether we get out of this drought in a few years with an El Niño or not,” he says.

Ultimately, the choice will rest with those 39 million Californians.

“There’s a lot of ways you can cut and put the water where it’s important to you,” Miller says. “And it may not be the garden, it might be your car, your cherry 1956 Chevy. It’s your choice to make. But you can always cut water and not waste so much, or reuse it, or minimize what you do use if you put your mind to it.”

Greenhouse Management assistant editor Cassie Neiden and Garden Center managing editor Michelle Simakis contributed to this article.