Walnut Creek officials working to track water usage

ROSSMOOR, Calif. (KGO) -- One East Bay community has over 10,000 residents and none has a water meter to track individual usage.

Rossmoor in Walnut Creek may be the largest Bay area community that has a homeowners association that pays the water bill and that creates a challenge when it comes to getting residents to conserve.

It's hard to tell with a naked eye when you see all the lush green in the area, but Rossmoor residents say don't let that fool you. Much of the real grass is now being replaced with artificial turf.

Landscapers have been busy redesigning parts of the Rossmoor community in Walnut Creek.

"We're going to take all this grass out and replace it with mulch and pads and boulders and drought tolerant plants," Mutual 1 President Ken Anderson said.

The issue is residents don't directly pay a water bill that's included in their homeowners association fees. They also don't have individual water meters to track their usage. "This area called fairways that you're in has I believe three or four. I think it's four meters for the whole area and that covers the landscaping and all of the personal home usage," Mutual 3 President Chuck Sanderson said.

There are 18 presidents from Mutuals within Rossmoor area that have been finding creative ways to conserve water. Many of the sprinklers have been capped or shut off. Grass is being spray painted or replaced with artificial turf.

Residents say they're accepting the new reality. "When they take all this grass out and everybody cries about it and I don't blame them, but then they put something else in there," Diane McConn said.

One woman said plastic grass is beautiful and you can't tell it's fake.

"An acre of lawn in that Walnut Creek area acre requires over 6,000 gallons a day in the peak summer," East Bay Municipal Utility District spokesperson Dave Langridge said.

EBMUD officials say Rossmoor has already converted 2 .5 acres. The local water agency is offering up to $20,000 in rebates for commercial customers and $2,500 for residential customers.

Rossmoor says while it's been proactive about landscape conversion before the drought, they say the efforts now are more important than ever.

To learn how much water your city is required to cut back, click here. For water rebate information from Bay Area water suppliers, click here. And click here for tips on how to conserve water. To learn more about how to report water wasters #WhereYouLive, click here.

For full coverage on the drought, click here.