Will water restrictions dry up plant sales?

Friday, 30 November 2007

California growers, especially those in the southern part of the state, are being advised that if they haven’t implemented a water conservation plan, they better do so soon.

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In the September issue of the San Diego County Flower & Plant Association newsletter, Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, discussed the state’s water woes. Larson said that growers are facing a “triple threat” in water availability. The state is experiencing a very dry year -- strike one. The Colorado River Basin, a major water resource, is entering the eighth year of the driest period in 500 years -- strike two. And finally, water pumping from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, from which Southern California receives 60 percent of its water, threatens the survival of the endangered Delta smelt -- strike three.

Larson says growers purchasing water through the state’s Interim Agricultural Water Program should expect a 30-percent reduction in water use starting Jan. 1, 2008.

Some California cities are taking a proactive approach. The city of Long Beach implemented an Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan that aims to head off or lessen the impact of an expected water supply shortage.

Although the city’s board of water commissioners has not eliminated all landscape irrigation, it has issued major restrictions on when watering can be done. Residents can’t irrigate a landscape with potable water between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., and they can irrigate landscapes only on Monday, Thursday or Saturday. Residents must prevent landscape overwatering and all water runoff.

Restricting watering could restrict sales

More cities, especially those encountering severe drought, are placing restrictions on landscape watering. In Georgia in late September, Carol Couch, director of the Environmental Protection Division, declared a level four drought response for the northern third of the state. Local governments and water providers were authorized to implement more stringent outdoor water use in their jurisdictions.

In October, the mayor and city council of Alpharetta, Ga., eliminated an exemption for watering new turf or landscape installed by certified or licensed landscapers during installation and 30 days following installation. Other cities banned outdoor watering.

In several letters to Couch, Mary Kay Woodworth, vice president of the state’s Urban Agriculture Council, wrote that the restrictions were having a major impact on the urban agriculture industry, particularly small businesses. Woodworth indicated that retailers and growers were laying off employees and reporting nonexistent sales. She wrote the restrictions had impacted every sector and shut down the industry across North Georgia.

Bedding and garden plants, according to the 2006 USDA Floriculture Crops Summary, are the No. 1 selling crop for the ornamentals industry. The wholesale value of these plants is $1.79 billion, which is the largest contributor to value of production and represents 47 percent of the wholesale value of all the reported crops.

Water restrictions are going to have a major impact on the planting of new landscapes as well as the maintenance of established plantings. The biggest impact could be on consumers’ decision whether to buy plants. Continued uncertainty of whether or not homeowners are able to water their flowers and lawns could hurt our industry in a big way.