On April 1, Governor Brown ordered California’s first-ever mandatory statewide water reductions. Today, a week later, Mayor Garcetti announced the first-ever citywide sustainability pLAn, with one of the primary focuses being to save the drop.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) is one of the first organizations to announce our support of the pLAn and our commitment to being part of the solution. Habitat LA President/CEO, Erin Rank, joined Mayor Garcetti and his Chief Sustainability Officer, Matt Petersen, during this morning’s announcement. Today, we launch WaterWise Homes™ with a goal to serve 1,000 low-income families and individuals through water efficiency upgrades, improvements and education over the next two years.
Specifically, WaterWise Homes™ will assist low-income homeowners, veterans, seniors and the disabled with conversion of their existing landscapes to new drought-resistant yards as well as replacement of interior fixtures with low-flow models. By changing landscaping to drought-tolerant materials such as California native plants and turf, and plumbing fixtures to low-flow models, WaterWise Homes™ will help Los Angeles reach its goal of reducing water consumption by 20% by 2017.
Another important component of the pLAn is the education and engagement of residents in water and other conservation incentives. Habitat LA will reach out to diverse audiences through our traditional and social media networks. We will educate the families and individuals we serve, distribute the material at events and provide DIY training in our home improvement ReStores. We will also recruit volunteers, corporations, faith and civic groups as well as complementary partners to help us support Mayor Garcetti’s vision of creating a cleaner environment and stronger economy.
In addition to WaterWise Homes™, Habitat LA is also building water-efficient new homes that incorporate California native landscaping and rain barrel technology. We look forward to working with Mayor Garcetti and other partnering organizations on implementing the pLAn to build a greener and greater Los Angeles.
Join us and #AdoptthePlan!
Media contacts: Ali Mullin, PR and Communications Coordinator, amullin@habitatla.org; or Jo-An Turman, Director of Entertainment Industry Partnerships, jturman@habitatla.org
