Of the
dozens of drought-related documents emanating from Yorba Linda's
governmental bodies, one of the most interesting is a six-page report
from a city-hired consultant analyzing the impacts of the new
water-use restrictions on the city's extensive, heavily used park
lands.
The
report sees several negatives from the 36 percent water cut,
including “sports field users … playing on bare dirt fields for
some significant period of time” and “very significant costs”
to replace park landscapes when drought conditions allow “more
normal” water management.
The
consultant, Santa Ana-based Richard Fisher Associates, also notes
that spotty areas of surviving turf thatch “will create uneven
playing surfaces for both the players and rolling balls” and warns
of “the risk of sports injuries” from playing on bare dirt.
And the
cost to renovate park landscapes once drought restrictions are lifted
“will be well in excess of $2 million,” based on a $216,000
projection to return Eastside Community Park – about 10 percent of
the city's total park acreage – to normal conditions.
Interestingly,
consultant Fisher notes all city-owned parks have weather-based
controllers, so they're exempt from the water district's Stage 3
rules that limit watering to 15 minutes per station and two times
weekly (April 1-Oct. 31), then just once per week (Nov. 1-March 31).
However,
Fisher reports the exemption “does not remove the issue of the city
being levied fines” for using more than 115 billing units of water
per meter per month in parks. Fines for residential water use begin
after 18 billing units. Each billing unit is 748 gallons.
For
example, since Eastside Community Park has five meters, the park can
consume 575 billing units per month, which Fisher states would be
1.09 inches of applied water monthly.
But
Fisher cites “a built-in inequity in the fines criteria” because
Box Canyon Park has one meter compared to Eastside's five. So,
according to Fisher, the water district's 115 billing unit limit
allows 33.8 units of water per acre at Eastside and 25.5 per acre at
Box Canyon monthly.
“The
demand for water per acre for the two parks should be considered
identical as the land-scape materials are virtually the same,”
Fisher notes, adding that the water district's limitation does not
take “the number of meters serving a given site into
consideration.”
Based on
data gained from experimental turf plots studied by two University of
California Co-operative Extension experts in turf management, Fisher
has assisted the city in developing a plan for a 36 percent water-use
cut in parks.
The plan
reduces watering in passive park areas – shrubbery and ground cover
area – by 50 percent and active turf areas – athletic fields –
by 20 percent to achieve an overall 36 percent reduction.
The
report's data and projections are based on “typical high summer
temperatures and no supplemental water from summer rainfall.”