By Hector Gonzalez
Staff Writer

January 28, 2015 -- Despite the state’s drought, Santa Monica’s rain barrel rebate program has shelled out more than $150,000 over the past three years in reimbursements to residents, City records show.

Last year -- the third straight year of severe drought across California -- Santa Monica received just 6 or so inches of rain, less than half its annual average. At the same time the City spent about $76,000 so that residents could capture that bit of rainfall from their rooftops.

Gina Garcia, community/residential greening program director for Sustainable Works, the nonprofit contracted by the City to put on rain barrel rebate events like one coming up this weekend, said the program is important even in times of drought.

“No, no,” said Garcia when asked if officials considered suspending the program because of the drought. “That’s the thing that people don’t understand.

“You need to have your rain barrel ready for when you do get those few raindrops. Also, the barrels are not just collecting water; they’re also for preventing runoff.”

When Santa Monica enacted a citywide sustainability plan more than two decades ago, one section encouraged community participation through the use of residential rain barrels and cisterns to capture and recycle rain and prevent it from going into storm drains and, ultimately, the ocean.

A year before the Sustainable City Plan was adopted in 1994, 18.4 inches of rain fell at the Santa Monica Pier. The following year, 25.2 inches of rain were recorded. Rain barrels and cisterns seemed to make sense at the time, at least conceptually.

Beginning in 2006, however, rainfall totals started falling sharply in Santa Monica. Less than an inch fell that year at the pier.

It was also in 2006 that voters approved Measure V, the 2006 Clean Beaches and Ocean Parcel Tax, which raised millions for urban runoff prevention programs, including reimbursing residents for the costs of rain barrels and cisterns.

Since then, the City and the Measure V Citizens Oversight Committee have approved funding for two rain barrel rebate events a year, usually in September and January, Garcia said.

The City’s latest Sustainable Landscaping/Rain Barrel Event is Saturday, January 31, in the Santa Monica College parking lot just east of 1744 Pearl St, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Residents can go to www.rainreserve.com/santamonica to reserve a 50-gallon rain barrel valued at $150 then pick one up at the event. Some non-reserved barrels might be available Saturday, depending on demand.

To qualify for a refund of up to $200 to fully cover the cost, residents must submit before and after photos of the installed barrels and must have the work verified by a city inspector, Garcia said.

“That is the best program we have going,” said Kim O’Cain, senior sustainability analyst at Sustainable Works. “At our last round (of rebates), we had more than 40 people purchase rain barrels.”

In parched Santa Monica even small amounts of rain can add up when several rain barrels are used in tandem, said O’Cain.

“Although you don’t collect a lot of water with one rain barrel, you do collect a lot when you have several working together,” she said. “Typically what happens is we get a customer who buys one then it rains. Then they’ll call us back and ask how they can get more.”

Garcia has three 50-gallon rain barrels in her yard, she said. Connected by spouts to her home’s gutters, the barrels yield “a good amount” of recycled rain water, she added.

“In a good rain, they do fill up,” said Garcia. “Remember, you’re catching all the rain that falls onto the roof. It’s that whole surface area.”

That’s why the rebate program requires homes to have gutters, she added.

Although RainReserve is the vendor at Saturday’s event, residents can buy a rain barrel or cistern from any retailer and still receive the rebate, said Neal Shapiro, water shed program coordinator at Sustainable Works.

A list of rain barrel vendors is available online at the city’s website, said Shapiro.

RainReserve “contacted us and said, ‘All you have to do is promote the event. We’ll do all the work,’” said Garcia. “They do all the shipping. There is no additional cost for us. It’s a simple partnership.”