Her tenant, Richard Harp, said he likes the water-efficient landscaping. "I don't prefer putting in grass and flowers," said Harp in a telephone interview. "That is false ... it's not the way the desert should be."

Rowe's landscaping approach is exactly what officials in Desert Hot Springs want to enforce in all new residential construction projects. The City Council voted Jan. 4 to pass a Water-Efficient Landscape Ordinance. The ordinance was formally adopted this week.

Rodrigo Peņa / The Press-Enterprise Water-efficient landscaping has helped save money on gardening bills, says Marilou Rowe, who rents out a home in Desert Hot Springs. The average residential user in the desert spends up to 70 percent of his or her water bill on outdoor use, one official says.

"We just wanted to get it done," Vice Mayor Mary Stephens said in a telephone interview. "We needed to get drought-tolerant landscaping and rules." The ordinance helps conserve water through water-efficient landscaping in plant material and irrigation techniques.

Under the ordinance, all plans for new and reinstalled landscaping must include a water efficient landscaping checklist, calculations for water allowance and usage, a landscape and irrigation design plan and a grading design plan. A certificate of substantial completion also must be submitted.

Plans must be correctly presented to the city to get the building permit. Permits won't be granted if developers or builders don't follow the rules, city officials said.

The ordinance is based on one by the Mission Springs Water District, which serves the city. That ordinance was adopted Dec. 20 and features guidelines to help calculate water usage.

When the project was started in October 2003, the Mission Springs Water District "came to us with a good argument," Luce said. "We have a certain civic responsibility to the community. Did it cost a little more? Yeah. Were people happy? Yeah. Was it a lot of trouble? No." The Coachella Valley Water District created the landscaping standards for the Coachella Valley a little more than three years ago, said Desert Hot Springs City Councilman Hank Hohenstein in a telephone interview.

Hohenstein said it's important for Desert Hot Springs to pass its own ordinance so that it can enforce the guidelines initially set by the water district. Anticipated growth led the water district to pass the ordinance, officials said.

Marilyn McKay, a Mission Springs Water District spokeswoman, said in the next eight to 10 years, there will be about 10,000 new water-service connections (in DHS). Developers will have to pay more for the water-efficient landscaping but will save in the end on water bills, she said. The average residential user in the desert spends up to 70 percent of their water bill on outdoor uses, said Fred Adjarian, the water resources project administrator for the district.

The choice saves everyone money in the end because it lessens the amount of water drained out of the city's award-winning Mission Creek Aquifer. "It's far more expensive to replace water than it is to conserve water," McKay said. Homeowner Rowe saw future savings in her investment in arid landscaping instead of reseeding grass and watering it. "My guess is I'm saving $250 per year," she said. "Plus the tenant is saving an additional $50 to $75 on a monthly gardening bill."

Reach Wes Woods II at (760) 837-4405 or wwoods@pe.com