Dear Virginia, Thank you for your comment. If you go to your local water supplier's website they will have a water conservation page, that offers rebates, classes and ideas on how to reduce your water footprint outdoors. You can also go to bewaterwise.com which is managed by Metropolitan Water District and offers rebates and suggestions. Here are some basic first steps: Convert your lawn to drought resistant CA friendly plants, if you need to keep a patch of lawn for pets or children, use yarrow which you can mow and maintain like a lawn but is drought tolerant; get free mulch from LA Dept of Sanitation and keep mulch (3-4 inches) around your plants to reduce evaporation, water in the early morning or late evening and even better yet, install a greywater system that allows you to reuse the water from your bathroom sink/shower and washer to irrigate your lawn and garden. Installing a simple system requires no permits. Install rain barrels to capture rain water for reuse. Greywater Action (http://greywateraction.org/) offers workshops for do-it-yourselfers and training and a certification program for graywater installers