OAK PARK — Because of the historic drought, Los Angeles residents are limited to two days per week for outdoor watering.

The restrictions are more lenient than the once-a-week limit ordered by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for areas dependent on water from the State Water Project.

Ripping out her lush backyard was a huge — and necessary — decision for Dalia Kenig.

"Some areas, even as much as I was watering, it was so hot that I had to change," she said. "It just felt like it’s a struggle. It didn’t feel like fun anymore."

Getting rid of the grass took hundreds of dollars off the Oak Park homeowner’s monthly water bill. What lawn that remains is still green because Kenig closely follows the once-a-week watering rule, and she’s paying big money to install one of the only exceptions to this rule: a drip irrigation system delivering water drop-by-drop to targeted areas.

Even the most strategic of plans though won’t guarantee the survival of her grass through the summer.

"I say, 'You don’t need to be sad twice. Let me be sad when it happens, if it happens, when it happens, so for now I’m going to enjoy it.'"

Kenig gets water from the Triunfo Water and Sanitation District, where Dave Rydman is the operations manager. He’s seeing many customers cut back, but it’s one of those things where everyone has to do it.

“So we either implement this one-day restriction, or it could get even worse,” said RydThe restrictions are more lenient than the once-a-week limit ordered by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for areas dependent on water from the State Water Project.

Ripping out her lush backyard was a huge — and necessary — decision for Dalia Kenig.

“Some areas, even as much as I was watering, it was so hot that I had to change,” she said. “It just felt like it’s a struggle. It didn’t feel like fun anymore.”

Getting rid of the grass took hundreds of dollars off the Oak Park homeowner’s monthly water bill. The lawn that remains is still green because Kenig closely follows the once-a-week watering rule, and she’s paying big money to install one of the few exceptions to this rule: a drip irrigation system delivering water drop-by-drop to targeted areas.

Even the most strategic of plans though won’t guarantee the survival of her grass through the summer.

“I say, ‘You don’t need to be sad twice. Let me be sad when it happens, if it happens, when it happens, so for now I’m going to enjoy it.’”

Kenig gets water from the Triunfo Water and Sanitation District, where Dave Rydman is the operations manager. He’s seeing many customers cut back, but it’s one of those things where everyone has to do it.

“So we either implement this one-day restriction, or it could get even worse,” Rydman said.

He’s already sent out the first warning letters to households using too much water. The next step will be fines. Then, if all else fails, there’s the flow restrictor, a device which physically throttles the incoming flow of water for a household so that there’s just enough to perform basic cooking and hygiene tasks.

“We’re really hoping to not have to use this,” Rydman said.

Parks and other common areas in Oak Park are kept green using recycled water. Residents may also use recycled water on their lawns since it’s exempt from the one-day-per-week watering restriction.

“When you’re in an area that’s 100% dependent on one source of supply, if there’s a limited amount of water available from that supply, then drastic measures have to be taken,” Rydman said.

As hopeful as Kenig is, it’s impossible not to see the writing on the wall — or rather, the shrubs disappearing from the surrounding hills.

“It’s funny, when you accept things, you see the beauty in them also when they’re brown,” Kenig said.