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The garden of reasons for reducing water use on the Monterey Peninsula just lost a carrot.

California American Water Co. and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District announced yesterday that the funding for their joint rebate program has dried up, for now.

The program offered Peninsula water users cash back for buying and installing water-saving appliances like high-efficiency toilets, washing machines, dishwashers, cisterns and irrigation controllers. But Cal Am customers have used up the more than $1.2 million dedicated to the rebates since 2009, the company reports in a press release.

Officials are asking homeowners and business people to keep conserving and retrofitting for better water efficiency anyway.

“Although we do not have funds to issue rebates at this time, the installation of water-savings appliances pay for themselves through lower water, electric and gas bills,” said Stephanie Pintar, the district's water demand manager. “Because of the efforts by people on the Monterey Peninsula to save water, we’ve been able to comply, as a community, with state and court restrictions on our local water supply and to avoid water rationing and fines.”

Cal Am and the water district have asked the California Public Utilities Commission to extend the rebate program. A CPUC nod later this year would allow the program to restart in 2012.

For questions, call the water district's conservation office at (831) 658-5601.