12 years later, water is even more precious, and the state needed to revisit the old ordinance. New technologies have entered the marketplace and we, the Landscape Industry, must figure out how to make landscapes water efficient.

The AB 2717 study was completed with 42 recommendations on how to improve landscape water efficiency, save water and reduce polluted urban runoff. The recommendations that came out of that task force which included Landscape Contractors and Landscape Architects, then needed to be handed to a legislator who could take those recommendations and turn them into state law.

Assemblyman Laird of Monterey County and his staff revised the recommendations of the expert panel, pulled out what they thought wouldn?EUR??,,????'???t fly in legislation, left in what they thought would get approved at the political level, and the bill is now moving forward.

At this time, it is called AB 1881, and according to all best estimates, it?EUR??,,????'???s sailing through the state legislation and is going to become law. The new legislation will give cities, counties and water agencies until 2010 to establish the ordinance. Is this new legislation in the state of California going to wreck the landscape industry? Here?EUR??,,????'???s the bottom line:

The highlights of the new bill are:

• Landscapes will need to be more water efficient.
• They will be required to meet a water budget. That budget is 75% of the local ET [evapo-transpiration] rate.
• Irrigation systems are recommended to meet a 70 percent efficiency level. Water runoff will be penalized.
• Landscape Contractors will be required to take and pass certification tests?EUR??,,????'??+mainly in irrigation and water management.
• That ?EUR??,,????'??certified?EUR??,,????'?? smart controllers will be the only irrigation controllers allowed in the state of California for sale and/or installation.