Soledad restricts some residents from watering their lawns to twice a week

SOLEDAD, Calif. (KION-TV)- The City of Soledad is asking community members in a section of the city to limit the times they water their lawns because it is causing overflow in one of the storm water outfalls.

The city asking community members who live near Soledad High School and Rose Ferraro Elementary School to limit watering their lawns to twice a week.

Jesus Valenzuela who is the Community Engagement Manager for the City of Soledad says it's to prevent storm drains from clogging up before the rain.

They say the grass isn’t always greener, but it might be on this side of Soledad. The well-kept lawns do come with a price.

Valenzuela says they have noticed an overflow issue with storm water outfalls. They say it’s likely a result of excessive lawn watering in some sections of Soledad.

People living here are limited to certain days of the week, and what time they can water their grass.

"It's got to be before eight in the morning, after 8:00 at night," said Debbie Wikoff who lives in Soledad. "So it's, it's good but it's also a little stressful if you don't have it on the automatic sprinkler system,"

Wikoff has been living in Soledad for over a decade and says she agrees with what the city is doing about the water issue but there are downsides.

"We forget to water and so do we have to wait and I think there's been some burnt-out grass because of that," said Wikoff. "And I think some people are going artificial, too as well because of the the dilemma,"

Down the block, one neighbor says she follows the restrictions but hasn’t been watering her grass recently because of the rain.

And that’s exactly why the city is putting out this reminder so people don’t unnecessarily wastewater.

"And so as the rainy season is picking back up, we want to do everything we can in our power to make sure that our water flows as best as possible and out the storm drains," Valenzuela said.

Although there has not been any flooding in Soledad in recent times, Debby says restricting water use helps locally and globally.

"They're cautions so there won't be flooding and there won't be overusing the water," said Wikoff.

The city says the last time they cleaned out the storm drains was last month but if neighbors notice any clogged-up drains contact the city.

Valenzuela said they will not be fining anyone.