Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
May 6, 2009
1. Top Item–
Here comes the rain -- and the sprinklers?
Sacramento
By Matt Weiser
It's a classic urban outrage:
In a rare spring rain, your neighbor's lawn sprinklers are flooding the gutter and sidewalk, wasting a precious resource.
This scenario has been too common in recent days as Northern California enjoys a series of May showers that have helped, but are nowhere near enough to get
In many neighborhoods, sprinklers have been in bloom during or right after our recent storms, when water piped to those yards – at great cost to the environment and the ratepayer – is least needed by the landscaping.
And there's a chance of rain again today, meaning more sprinklers will probably be running willy-nilly.
"It concerns me in that it just seems ridiculous," said Theresa Sugden, who has witnessed sprinklers working in the rain at state buildings near her home on Broadway, east of
"Water out of the sky works just as well as water out of the sprinkler," she said.
Amazingly, few of the
"You're just wasting money and wasting water by irrigating after or during the significant rainfall we had over the weekend," said Sharon Fraser, water conservation coordinator at El Dorado Irrigation District, one of the few that specifically ban irrigating in the rain. "It's just so unnecessary."
Fraser's agency modeled its rules after those adopted by the city of
At the other end of the spectrum is the city of
Assistant City Manager Marty Hanneman said that in Sacramento, water is defined as "wasted" only if it runs off a property into the street. Which is impossible to determine when the street is already coursing with rain.
"I don't see how that is enforceable," Hanneman said.
Local water managers say the problem is usually not willful neglect. Rather, people and companies forget their sprinkler controllers are on, or forget how to control their timers.
"I think most people want to do the right thing," said Jan Gentry, spokeswoman for Sacramento Suburban Water District. "It just catches them off guard."
Technology has a solution for the forgetful. "Smart" irrigation timers adjust watering schedules according to the weather. When it rains, they automatically turn off sprinklers. No memory required.
These timers are more expensive than the traditional variety, and somewhat more complicated to install.
Water agencies in
Three districts in the
Fraser's agency offers vouchers of as much as $650 to help 1,000 customers install smart timers, with assistance from a $480,000 state grant.
Everybody else, she said, should get in the habit of turning off sprinkler timers when they're clearly not needed. Many conventional timers even have a manual "rain" setting that turns off sprinklers without losing programmed schedules.
"We want you to save that water for when it can be put to beneficial use, and not just run off with the rain," she said. #
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1836996.html?mi_rss=Our%2520Region
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