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Published May 7th, 2014
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How do Lamorinda Cities Deal with Water Cutbacks?
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| By Cathy Tyson |
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| Water traveling 130 miles from the Sacramento River flows through these pipes into the San Pablo Creek at the EBMUD facility off of Manzanita Drive in Orinda. Photo Ohlen Alexander |
While household customers in the East Bay Municipal Utility District's service area have been asked to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 10 percent, that request applies to municipalities as well. Staffers in Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda are well aware of the situation and are already doing their respective parts to wisely manage this precious resource.
Dismal precipitation this past winter and the continued drought that California is facing has spurred EBMUD's board of directors to purchase approximately 16,000 acre feet of water from the Sacramento River to be deposited into East Bay reservoirs; in addition, they reiterated their earlier request for all customers to cut water use by 10 percent.
The Sacramento River water travels about 130 miles to San Pablo Creek where it will flow to the San Pablo Reservoir, or to Moraga Creek where it will flow to the Upper San Leandro Reservoir. The 16,000 acre-feet of water translate to about 5.2 billion gallons or enough to fill the Oakland Coliseum 24 times. While this water improves reliability to EBMUD's 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, oddly none of it will flow to Lamorinda customers; instead going to a dozen other cities including Crockett, Rodeo, Hercules, Pinole and beyond.
At a media event to highlight the increased water supply, EBMUD general manager Alexander Coate thanked customers for their continued water vigilance.
How are Lamorinda's three municipalities handling the request? In Orinda, the water feature with the charming frog at the Library Plaza re-circulates water - so that will remain on during the summer months, said Michelle Lacy, director of Parks and Recreation. However the water feature at the tot lot, which is currently off, will remain off during the summer. The city is in an unusual situation in that it has added sports fields at Wilder to its portfolio of watering needs. Two of those fields are artificial turf, so don't need irrigation, but Lacy explained it's a safety issue to keep the natural grass fields green to help prevent player injuries. Orinda's plan is to cut back on the watering that may be less noticeable in city-owned medians and planted areas. In addition, they have asked staff to be extra prudent with water usage in city buildings.
Moraga has a similar plan - to modify the watering cycle for town-owned landscaping and turn off the toddler-friendly water feature in the Commons Park. It was installed in 2009; adding a re-circulation component at that time to the "circle" would have doubled the cost, said Jay Ingram, director of Parks and Recreation, so the water used just goes down the drain. It was shut off in November for the winter and would normally be turned back on in the middle of May. He acknowledges it's not a popular choice, due to its use by little ones during the warm summer months, but something had to go. Ingram adds that during the Thursday evening summer concert series, it can be continually running while the park is full of families and kids enjoying the show. The Biondi fountain near the Commons parking area will also be shut off.
"We've been installing and using water efficiency methods for quite some time," said Jennifer Russell, director of Parks, Trails and Recreation in Lafayette. "We have installed low-flow toilets, drought tolerant native plantings, and automatic shut-offs on our public restroom sinks. EMBUD sends reports that congratulate us on our wise use of water and indicate we use 75 percent of what they determine to be the amount of water we can use given our acreage." Automatic shut off valves for all the landscaping irrigation at Lafayette Community Park and Buckeye Fields will be installed in the near future by park maintenance staff.
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| EBMUD General Manager Alexander Coate celebrates the East Bay sipping Sacramento River water for the first time at a press conference. Photo Ohlen Alexander |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA