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Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing legislation that would “deputize” local water agency staff members to fine residents up to $10,000 for water violations, state officials said Friday.

Santa Clarita Residents Show Concern Over Medians, Watering

With the discussion about California’s drought continuing, and ideas about how to help are stacking up, another issue has come up with local residents — medians.


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The city has been ripping out medians and replacing them with drought tolerant plants, according to city officials.

But those plants do still need to be watered, and some people wonder if we should be planting plants at all.

“If we were using a lot of water to water these medians, I might agree,” said Mayor Marsha McLean. “The amount of water used is minimal.” 

Drought tolerant plants are plants that need much less water than regular plants.

“The city has always been cognizant about reducing water,” said McLean.

Cumulatively, over the past four years, Santa Clarita officials have reduced water usage by 1 billion gallons of water, according to the city’s website. 

“I understand the concern,” said McLean. “But as soon as I explain the process to people, they understand.” 

The city installed weather based controllers in 2011, according to Kevin Tonoian, Administrative Services & Technology Services Manager for the city of Santa Clarita. The controllers are programmed to receive real time weather information and adjust the irrigation accordingly.

“The controllers also have a remote shut off in response to rain, and since 2010,” according to the cities website. “The city has ‘paused’ watering 220 times.”

The city plans to continue replacing medians with drought tolerant plants.

The Council will meet at some point next year to consider working to replace the remaining turf, according to Tonoian.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

Additional Santa Clarita Water Information

The average daily water use of Santa Clarita residents is about 220 gallons, according to the city’s “waterwise” website.

Nearly 70 percent of all water use in Santa Clarita is for landscaping.

Although the city could not comment on the exact amount of water used for watering medians, The city is balancing aesthetics by planting low-water use plants in all public spaces, reducing water needs. These plants help the city save 2 million gallons of water annually. 

All sports fields in the Santa Clarita Valley also have to be watered, but the use of Bermuda grass at city’s sports fields has reduced watering by more than 50%.

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Santa Clarita Residents Show Concern Over Medians, Watering

3 comments

  1. I continue to be shocked to see the city spending money for labor and any amount of water for the
    median strips. How dare the city ask us to restrict watering when they continue to use what they want.
    I would like to know not only the amount of money spent ons water, but the labor costs in removing
    existing plants, purchasing and installing new low water plants + parts for that process.

    Why don’t you (the City) set an example for the city. If there’s a serious drought…would it hurt all of
    us to go without plants at least until weather patterns change?

    I’ve written Lauren Weste about this in the past & her reply was no more satisfactory than this one.

    Shame on you….do you think we don’t notice things like this?

  2. What would you have in its place? Plastic flowers? Just dirt? Wouldn’t that be attractive? “The City” is doing exactly what SCV residents should be doing: removing as many water-wasting plants as feasible and relaxing them with plants that require water 1-2 a month. I continue to be shocked by residents who overwater consistently, so much so that algae formed years ago at my curb from water runoff. Don’t play the tit for tat game! Do you want water to drink or a green lawn? It just may come to that someday!!!

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About Kimberly Beers

Kimberly Beers is a Santa Clarita native. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from California State University, Northridge in 2013. While attending the university, she focused her attention on news writing and worked as a primary news writer for the campus' award winning radio station and televised news program. She began writing news stories for KHTS in 2014 and hopes to have a lifetime career dedicated to writing and sharing the news