Rocklin Slashes Water Use During California Drought By More Than 30 Percent

ROCKLIN (CBS13) — When Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought earlier this year, he asked Californians to reduce water usage by 20 percent.

Rocklin has reached that goal and gone even further.

You won't find any more grass at the corner of Sunset and West Oaks in Rocklin.

"We got like 15,000 square feet that used to be turf," said Ron Peter with the city's landscaping department. "We're taking it all out."

It's one of many projects around the city to remove water-sucking grass and replace it with drought-resistant landscape.

"Putting lilies and carpet rose in, and it should save about 38,000 gallons of water a year," he said.

The city cut water consumption by nearly 30 percent in the first half of the year compared to the previous year. The water saved could fill 1,300 swimming pools.

"Removing the turf, replacing with other types of plants and it has other benefits as well. it's lower maintenance," said city spokeswoman Karen Garner. "We don't have to have someone out there mowing it all the time."

Other water-saving measures included replacing the grass on a soccer field with a different type that requires less water.

"Actually the soccer club that plays there likes it better because it's a little faster field," she said.

City leaders found more water savings by doing an entire leak audit of city buildings, and making some tough decisions.

"Just that one act of basically shutting off our water parks was a significant savings," Garner said.

Lisa Burke and 5-year-old Maggie haven't been coming as much without the splash park up and running, but she's proud of her city setting such a waterwise example.

"We have family down in Southern California, so we kind of hope that they get the message down there too since most of the water in this area goes down there," she said.

The city says it did have to increase the budget a little to replace the grass on the soccer field, but it also received a California Conservation Corps grant for some of the labor on other projects.