Water Conservation can help you save water and money! Learn how to find ways to save water and money in and around your home at the City of Sacramento’s Water Conservation Workshop! Get FREE water conservation tips and tools, discuss how much water your landscape needs to be healthy, learn about rebates for water saving devices and City water conservation rules and services. Attendance at the Water Conservation Workshop can also waive fines for water conservation violations. For questions or further information, please visit www.sparesacwater.org. April 9, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. June 25, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.* July 30, 2011, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. August 27, 2011, 8:30 a.m

Sacramento residents won't see monthly utility rates drop next summer after voters overwhelmingly rejected Measure B at the polls Tuesday. The initiative to roll back the city's rates for water, garbage and sewer services was failing by more than two to one late Tuesday night. With 287 out of 355 precincts counted, 41,328 – or 68 percent – of voters chose to stick with higher fees as of 10:55 p.m. More than 19,000 voters, or nearly 32 percent, had voted for the Utilities Rate Hike Roll Back Act of 2010 sponsored by the Sacramento County Taxpayers League, according to Sacramento County's elections department. The measure's opponents believe a rate decrease would have been a "risky approa

Sacramento's newest watering restriction goes into effect Sunday. Coinciding with the end of daylight-saving time on Sunday, residents and businesses will be limited to irrigating once a week, according to a city Department of Utilities press release late Thursday afternoon. Residents and businesses can't water on weekdays under the restriction. Those with odd-numbered addresses may water on Saturdays only and even-numbered addresses may water on Sundays. The Sacramento City Council approved the restriction in May as part of an irrigation ordinance restricting summer watering to certain hours every other day. California is in its third year of drought. Watering restrictions will return

Each morning, Amy Parker and her husband Michael Palmer step from their front porch into a sanctuary nestled among flowers and rocks shaded by trees, luring butterflies and bees to stop and pollinate.   The Sacramentans recently transformed the front yard of their 10-year-old home into an inviting rock garden. Before it became a garden, the space was a lawn with fruit trees. Now it is abundant with colorful plants that require short watering sessions throughout the week.   Currently, city code allows Sacramento residents to water their yards three times per week during the summer. The Sacramento City Council passed additional changes to the outdoor water conservation ordinance, which t

The Sacramento City Council will consider raising city utilities rates by 9 percent for the 2009/2010 fiscal year at its June 23 meeting. Under the council’s plan, the rates would also jump another 9 percent in the following fiscal year. Council members are now examining two sets of 9 percent hikes after they abandoned on Tuesday a plan by city staffers that would have raised rates 12.2 percent in the 2009/2010 fiscal year and 12.4 percent in the 2010/2011 fiscal year. Councilman Steve Cohn said Tuesday that residents would not be able to afford 12 percent rate hikes during the current recession. Jamille Moens, business services division manager at the Department of Utilities, said Cohn