A. The State Legislature has found that:
1. The waters of the state are of limited supply and are subject to ever increasing demands;
2. The continuation of California’s economic prosperity is dependent on the availability of adequate supplies of water for future uses;
3. It is the policy of the state to promote the conservation and efficient use of water and to prevent the waste of this valuable resource;
4. Landscapes are essential to the quality of life in California by providing areas for active and passive recreation and as an enhancement to the environment by cleaning air and water, preventing erosion, offering fire protection, and replacing ecosystems lost to development;
5. Landscape design, installation, maintenance, and management can and should be water efficient; and
6. Article X, § 2 of the California Constitution specifies that the right to use water is limited to the amount reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served, and the right does not and shall not extend to waste or unreasonable method of use of water.
B. The City of Brea hereby finds that:
1. Orange County has an established, large reclaimed water infrastructure system;
2. Allocation-based and tiered water rate structures allow public agencies to document water use in landscapes;
3. Incentive-based water use efficiency programs have been actively implemented within Orange County since before 1991;
4. Current local design practices in new landscapes strive to achieve the intent of the State Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance water use goals;
5. All water services within the city are metered and billed based on volume of use;
6. Orange County is a leader in researching and promoting the use of smart irrigation controllers with more than twelve thousand, nine hundred (12,900) installations as of June 2009 and promotion of sustainable landscape transformation with more than thirty million (30,000,000) square feet of turf removal;
7. All new irrigation controllers sold after 2012 within Orange County will be smart irrigation controllers;
8. Landscape plan submittal and review has been a long standing practice in Brea;
9. The average rainfall in Orange County is approximately twelve (12) inches per year; and
10. The local water purveyor is implementing budget-based tiered-rate billing and/or enforcement of water waste prohibitions for all existing metered landscaped areas throughout its service area, which includes the City of Brea in its entirety.
C. Consistent with these findings, the purpose of this chapter is to establish an alternative model acceptable under Governor Brown’s April 1, 2015 Drought Executive Order (B-19-25) as being at least as effective as the State Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance in the context of conditions in the city in order to:
1. Promote the benefits of consistent landscape ordinances with neighboring local and regional agencies;
2. Promote the values and benefits of landscapes while recognizing the need to invest water and other resources as efficiently as possible;
3. Establish a structure for planning, designing, installing, maintaining and managing water efficient landscapes in new construction and rehabilitated projects;
4. Establish provisions for water management practices and water waste prevention for existing landscapes;
5. Use water efficiently without waste by setting a maximum applied water allowance as an upper limit for water use and reduce water use to the lowest practicable amount; and
6. Encourage the use of economic incentives that promote the efficient use of water, such as implementing a budget-based tiered-rate structure, providing rebate incentives and offering educational programs.
(Ord. 1179, passed 12-15-15)