The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) kicked off its summer “365” advertising and outreach campaign encouraging Southern Californians to conserve water every day. MWD also launched a new Landscape Transformation Program that offers rebates to GWP and other surrounding utility customers to replace turf with California friendly landscaping and efficient irrigation.

As a member agency of MWD, Glendale Water & Power (GWP) encourages residents and businesses to take advantage of this program designed to promote sustainability and encourage a reduction in water use. The Landscape Transformation Program offers residents and businesses $1 for every square foot of turf grass they replace with more water-efficient native plants and irrigation systems. This program aims to combine elements of grass removal, irrigation modification and water retention or filtration to support reuse or soil absorption of rainwater. Details about the new landscape program and all of Metropolitan’s rebates are available at Metropolitan’s online water-savings portal bewaterwise.com. The mobile-friendly site offers tips, educational materials, how-to videos, and classes on how to be more water efficient.

Metropolitan’s Turf Removal Program in 2014-15 spurred the replacement of 160 million square feet of grass during one of California’s worst droughts. This time around, instead of a short-term urgent drought response, Metropolitan’s new Landscape Transformation Program will be ongoing, with up to $50 million in applications accepted a year.

“Glendale customers took full advantage of the Turf Removal Program in the past, removing over 2.3 million square feet of grass during the drought. Our customers understood that water is always a limited resource in California and took action to conserve. We hope to see significant savings from this new program,” said GWP’s General Manager Steve Zurn.

MWD’s 365 campaign builds on its H2Love conservation campaign. With the tagline, “Every day is a chance to save water. And money,” the campaign not only encourages viewers to conserve, it also tells them how to receive financial help through rebates available at bewaterwise.com. Campaign components include television commercials, billboards, social media ads and posters for local convenience stores and lunch trucks. Components will be translated into Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

For more information on the Landscape Transformation Program and to view conservation tips, visit www.GlendaleWaterAndPower.com