Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has again started offering rebates to residents as incentives for saving water. The SoCal WaterSmart program that was overwhelmingly supported last year has been restarted with lower rebates offered in a bid to allow the program to last longer.

Rebates are being offered for such things as weather based irrigation controllers, high-efficiency toilets and clothes washers plus a per foot rebate on the installation of synthetic grass.

Western is also offering free landscape evaluations, which will include a look at irrigation programming, mulch and whether areas can be converted to drip irrigation. If applicable, homeowners who get an evaluation will receive up to 20 free, high-efficiency sprinkler nozzles, worth $4 each retail, and installation.

The program is not only limited to residents who are direct customers of Western Municipal Water District in Riverside. Customers who receive wholesale water from the agency are also eligible for reduced rebates.

The incentives are available to residential and commercial customers in the district’s service area, which includes parts of Riverside, Jurupa, Norco, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula.

The program has set aside a total of $464,000 in rebates and it is expected to save something in the order of 300 billion gallons of water.