Your Water is Our Promise: The CVWD Blog

By late October, daytime high temperatures are forecast to nestle in the mid-80s this year. Those days will introduce prime home garden planting opportunities.

Nurseries will be loaded with fresh plants in containers, flats and pots. New plants can develop roots when the soil is warm before cooler air temps in late fall and winter slow plant growth.

Moisten soil prior to planting. Water plants gently after planting and continue to water regularly as they become established.

As the nights get cooler, probably around early November, plants will need less water and settle into a regular watering schedule.

The Halloween month is a good time to plant citrus trees so they can acclimate before the frost season arrives. Although rare, frosts have occurred December-February. For information on how to take care of your citrus trees go to cvwd.org/280/Residential and click on “Citrus Tree Care Landscape Workshop.”

Vegetable gardeners

For fresh veggies to enjoy this winter, jump on planting seedlings of  lettuce, beets, carrots, spinach, broccoli and peas in a cool week. More choices --- lentils, cilantro, garlic, cabbage, turnips and Swiss chard

Go native

Add locally native plants to your garden. You support the pollinators and other wildlife that depend on them for survival.

Here are three strong sources to find native or desert-friendly plants suitable for the Coachella Valley:

• “Lush and Efficient: Desert-Friendly Landscaping in the Coachella Valley” lists more than 300 plants with over 800 photos. You can search by several dozen categories. You can pick up a copy of the 160-page book at CVWD’s Coachella office at 50-501 Tyler St., or CVWD’s Palm Desert office at 75-525 Hovley Lane East (same building where you pay your bill). You can also find the book at CVWD.org/conservation for PDF download.
• At Calscape.org all you have to do is enter your address to see 510 plants and photos divided into 20 categories.
•  “Flower Planting Guide for the Low Desert,” by University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

The Board of Directors Sept. 27 recognized the retirement of Director of Finance Geoffrey Kiehl, who thanked the board for his four years of service. He lauded the importance of CVWD and its staff.

 “Working for CVWD was the capstone of my career,” he said.

The board also:

• Approved soliciting bids for a project to replace 350 feet of 12-inch dimeter concrete drain pipeline with polyethylene pipeline near the intersection of Avenue 68 and Hammond Road near Mecca. The Johnson Street Drain Improvement Project will also include installing nine manholes over a pre-existing agricultural drain line. Estimated cost is $572,000.
• Authorized the General Manager to seek a $2.45 million grant from the State Water Resources Board to update the Eastern Coachella Valley Water Supply Plan and to start planning consolidations of more small water systems.
• Approved purchase of one year of liability insurance for $630,000.

CVWD will offer nearly $6 million in conservation rebate programs in fiscal 2022-2023 thanks to an additional $3 million approved Sept. 13 by the Board of Directors.

Since July 1, CVWD has paid $650,000 to turf conversion program participants. An additional $2.2 million is reserved for approved projects. Those projects will replace about 950,000 square feet of turf with water-efficient landscaping.

Turf replacement rebates are $3 per square foot. The City of Rancho Mirage offers a matching rebate. CVWD customers who live in Rancho Mirage can realize a $6 per square-foot rebate.

In other action, the Board:

• Awarded a $255,889 construction contract to The Van Dyke Corp., Twentynine Palms, for repairs to a steel casing that carries water pipe along Lincoln Street, Mecca. 
• Approved a $60, 931,425 loan with US. Bureau of Reclamation for 10 Coachella Canal irrigation lateral replacement projects. 
• Approved a nonpotable water agreement with Tamarisk Country Club. Tamarisk will be connected to a new length of CVWD’s nonpotable distribution system planned for construction in summer 2024.

Approved a funding arrangement with the U.S. Geological Survey that maintains and operates stream-flow gauges in the Coachella Valley. The gauges measure stormwater and drainage flows to the Salton Sea, flows from the All American Canal to the Coachella Canal and groundwater quality from various wells. Total cost over five years is $766,455.