Beverly Hills : Plan to Save Water OKd

The City Council on Tuesday indicated it would support a three-pronged water-conservation ordinance that would ban lawn-watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., prohibit the hosing down of sidewalks, patios and other hard surfaces and impose an odd-even day lawn-watering system based on residents’ street numbers.

City Manager Mark Scott said that such an ordinance would probably reduce water use by 10%. He was instructed by the council to draft legislation that would contain those measures, and at the same time to prepare a resolution urging state legislators to press agribusiness--which accounts for more than 80% of the state’s water consumption--to implement further conservation measures.

The ordinance was scheduled for a vote next month.