Fire Station 171 in the City of Inglewood will soon have an ocean-friendly, drought-resistant landscape, thanks to a $32,000 grant from the West Basin Municipal Water District that was formally accepted by the Board of Supervisors on May 17. The Water District provides free ocean-friendly gardens to cities and public spaces to illustrate to community members how they can conserve water in their home landscaping without taking away from the beauty of their gardens. This environmentally smart project is also fiscally smart for our Department because it will provide a significant cost-savings by reducing the amounts of water and energy used in irrigating the station's landscaping.

Under the terms of the grant, the Water District will provide a landscape designer, licensed landscape contractor, all required materials and the labor to install the project free of charge. The resulting ocean-friendly garden will boast native plants that consume far less water than a grass lawn (approximately 60 percent of consumed water in the Western United States goes to maintaining lawns). In addition, a weather-based irrigation controller that automatically reduces and increases watering times when the weather gets cooler and warmer will be installed. Our Department is proud to be selected to demonstrate landscaping that will improve water quality and increase water supply to the residents of Los Angeles County.