Are you looking for ways to save water to help with California’s statewide drought?

Start by looking at your water bill.

IRWD uses a budget-based rate structure — which provides enough water for your indoor and outdoor needs, gives you control to save money, and ensures revenue stability for the water district.

We want you to know that your water supply here is in good shape, and IRWD is well-positioned to weather drought conditions like these for several years. But using water wisely has always been a goal at IRWD. Since the 1990s, we have been increasingly focused on programs to help our customers do just that — which is why average customer water use has been cut nearly in half since 1990.

Today, IRWD’s Water Efficiency team includes people specializing in drought-tolerant landscaping, leak detection, residential and business water use audits, educational workshops, and rebates. And our website offers you tools to help with all that.

Our budget-based rate structure — designed to provide customers with a significant economic incentive to use reasonable amounts of water — is an important tool in that toolbox.

The structure includes variable charges based on the amount of water each customer uses. To encourage wise water use, each household is assigned a monthly water-usage budget. Customers who stay within their budget are rewarded with low water bills. Customers who exceed their budget buy water in two steeply ascending upper tiers, resulting in higher water bills.

Simply put: Use more water and your bill goes up. Use less and it goes down.

You can track your progress on the “Monthly Water Budget vs. Usage” chart that appears on your bill each month.

To ensure revenue stability, IRWD also assesses monthly fixed charges based on the size of the customer’s water meter.  Those fixed charges provide adequate funding for all IRWD operating costs other than the water itself — such as operating and maintaining IRWD’s water distribution infrastructure, pipes, treatment plants, and sewers.

Therefore, IRWD maintains a stable and adequate operating budget — regardless of the amount of water sold.

Learn more

• For details on IRWD’s rate structure and a straight-forward explanation of how it works, see our Resource Guide to Water Efficiency.
• The Resource Guide also explains how to find water leaks, read your meter, track your water usage through our WaterInsight Program, and apply for residential or commercial rebates that can help pay to make your home or business more water efficient.
• IRWD is prepared with a Water Shortage Contingency Plan and in September, 2022, implemented Level 2 response actions to affirm our customers’ ongoing commitment to saving water and heighten the call for efficiency. Read the complete plan here.
• To keep up to date on IRWD’s drought readiness and for more tips on how to save water, visit IRWD.com/drought.

Dams provide many benefits to communities around the nation, including water storage, electrical power, flood control, and recreational and economic opportunities. But they also carry some risk: requiring strict and rigid guidelines for their design, construction, maintenance and operation to ensure their safety.

For more than 60 years, Irvine Ranch Water District has safely owned, operated and maintained dams and reservoirs, with current locations at Irvine Lake, Rattlesnake, San Joaquin, Sand Canyon and Syphon reservoirs.

Our dams and reservoirs are designed for safety, and they are routinely monitored and inspected by the California Department of Water Resources Division of Safety of Dams. IRWD has also retained a review team of engineers and dam safety experts who have been nationally recognized as some of the best in the field to provide their expertise as needed.

In observance of National Dam Safety Awareness Day on May 31, we’d like to highlight some of the steps involved in IRWD’s Dam Safety Program, which exceeds state and national standards.

Designed for safety

Earthen embankment dams, like ours, are proven to be resilient in earthquakes. Made of compacted earth, they are proven to be resilient and self-healing in earthquakes, and they have a strong record of safety.

Regulation and oversight

Our dams are regulated by the California Department of Water Resources Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) and are inspected at least once a year. In addition to these annual inspections, IRWD routinely monitors and inspects its dams.

Emergency Action Plans

Our commitment to the community includes developing and maintaining an Emergency Action Plan for each of our dams to identify potential emergency conditions, and preplanned actions to ensure safety.

Self-contained for safety

Most of IRWD’s reservoirs receive very little or no water from rivers or streams. That means we can control the flow of water in and out — like filling or draining your bathtub.

Going above and beyond

To ensure we’re going above and beyond for safety, IRWD retains a review team of engineers and dam safety experts who have been nationally recognized as some of the best in the field.

Our staff inspects all five dams daily, and caretakers are stationed locally to each dam for rapid response.

Finally, the DSOD provides a safety rating for each of IRWD’s dams based on several factors including the height of the dam and the storage capacity of the reservoir, and has concluded that all IRWD dams are safe for continued use. To learn more about DSOD’s safety ratings for each of IRWD’s five dams, please view our ratings chart here.

Click here for more details about our Dam Safety Program.

When it comes to helping customers save water, Irvine Ranch Water District teams up with residents and businesses alike.

One of our earliest partners in our WaterStar business program is U.C. Irvine, which has been using IRWD recycled water on campus for more than 50 years.

Our collaboration with the university was recently honored with a national Award of Excellence from the WateReuse Association for accomplishments stemming from our decades of water-saving work:

• Converting campus cooling towers to recycled water, saving 80 million gallons of drinking water each year.
• Replacing turf with drought-tolerant landscaping, and installing high-efficiency fixtures on campus, saving another 300 million gallons of drinking water a year.

These and other projects have already pushed UCI well beyond the University of California’s policy goal to cut water use 26% by 2025.

In photo above, left to right, are IRWD Board Member Doug Reinhart, WaterReuse Orange County Chapter President Scott Lynch, Board Member Peer Swan, Board Vice President Karen McLaughlin, UCI Manager of Construction Project Services Adam Feuerstein, UCI Assistant Director of Utilities Operations Jerry Nearhoof, IRWD Board President Steve LaMar, and IRWD General Manager Paul Cook.

Irvine Ranch Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California are working together to support drought-stricken communities by making water from IRWD’s water bank available to those that need it most.

IRWD and Metropolitan, Southern California’s water wholesaler, are partnering to provide nearly 4,000 acre-feet of water from the IRWD Water Bank in Kern County for distribution to drought-stricken areas within Metropolitan’s service area. In return, Metropolitan will reimburse the recovery costs and provide a credit to IRWD for the same amount of water to meet a future need.

The partnership and implementing agreement reflect an overarching spirit of collaboration among water agencies throughout the state, working together to respond to emergencies. It shows how water agencies have tools and resources to respond to severe droughts. The new agreement is based on a 2011 Coordinated Operating Agreement between IRWD, Metropolitan and the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

“We are grateful to have IRWD partner with us in this effort, supporting the well-being of all Southern California,” Metropolitan General Manager Adel Hagekhalil said. “It’s through creative thinking and collaborative partnerships like this that we are able to find and develop drought solutions that support our entire state.”

IRWD is well-positioned to weather the drought because of its development of local, drought-resilient and emergency water supplies – and because of its reduced reliance on imported water, although it does rely on some Colorado River water. And while much of Southern California can similarly rely on diverse supplies, some parts of Metropolitan’s service area cannot receive Colorado River water because of infrastructure limitations. These areas, including communities in Northern Los Angeles County, Ventura County and San Bernardino County, depend on water supplies from the State Water Project, which have been severely limited by the state’s severe drought, now entering its third year.

The agreement between IRWD and Metropolitan provides a supplemental resource to serve those regions – with 4,000 acre-feet being enough to serve about 12,000 households for one year.

“IRWD is fortunate to be in a position to help, thanks to the local water sources we have developed over the years, and to the conscientious efforts made by our customers to use water wisely,” said General Manager Paul Cook. “We are happy to be part of the solution to help communities that need it most.”

The 2020 and 2021 water years were the driest two-year sequence on record in California. And though rain and snowfall in October and December brought some precipitation to the state, much more is needed to refill depleted storage and end the drought emergency.

Residents at home can do their part to help, too, by using water wisely. Even small acts to save water, when accomplished by many, can add up to significant savings to help meet the governor’s request for 15% voluntary water use reductions around the state.

Visit RightScape.com and bewaterwise.com for tips and rebate information to help you save water.