Riverside County nursery to cut its water use

A nursery that supplies plants and flowers to commercial clients has reached an agreement with the Western Municipal Water District that could save the company up to $300,000 a year in water costs.

Altman Specialty Plants, which operates a 375-acre facility in Lake Mathews in unincorporated Riverside County, will capture, treat and reuse its irrigation water as a way to save water, said Michele McKinney Underwood, water district spokeswoman.

In exchange for that, Altman Specialty will receive a one-time rebate from the Southern California Metropolitan Water District that could save it up to half a million dollars, on top of its anticipated $300,000 annual savings in water usage, Underwood said.

“They’re going to take their own runoff and use it again, which is an excellent way to save water,” Underwood said. “It’s almost a custom-designed program for a nursery, which is a little different than most users.”

Altman Specialty is expected to have the conservation program in place in about two months. The company is expected to save about 111 million gallons of water a year, a 33 percent reduction in its water use, according to the district.

Altman Specialty is based in Vista. It grows landscape plants – annuals, perennials, grasses, herbs, vegetables and bedding plants – at locations in three states. The Riverside County operation distributes to California, Nevada and Arizona.

The Metropolitan Water District’s incentive program provides financial incentives for large-scale water users to improve their water efficiency. It is being implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, according to the district.

The Western Municipal Water District is part of the Southern California Metropolitan Water District.