Santee’s
Community Services Department is responsible for maintaining parks, roadside landscaping
funded by gas tax revenue and municipal facilities such as the Civic Center
Complex. These facilities require either
drinking water, irrigation water or both.
Santee
was monitoring its water usage before the state enacted mandatory cutbacks on
June 1 seeking a statewide reduction of 25 percent. However, the ongoing drought has made us look
for ways to conserve even more water. Even though the city is not a water purveyor—Padre
Dam Municipal Water District fills that role -- we’re paying attention and taking
conservation seriously.
Measures
we’ve taken to reduce our water usage include:
·
Installed drip irrigation for landscaping at the Civic Center Complex
·
Using reclaimed water for roadside landscaping under the city’s
control that is served by purple piping
·
Using “smart” irrigation controllers
that shut off when rain is in the weather forecast
·
Planted native, drought-tolerant plant species in landscaped areas
at city parks
·
Installed artificial turf surfaces for one football and one soccer
field at Town Center Community Park
·
Using
recycled water at 10 landscaping fountains citywide
·
Installed
metered water faucets in park restrooms
·
Planning
to convert all overhead spray irrigation to drip systems and upgrade drip
equipment that needs repair.
·
Replacing landscape turf on Fanita Parkway with drought-tolerant
trees and shrubs
·
Using
recycled water for street sweeping since 2013
·
Using
reclaimed water at six of the city’s eight parks; the remaining two lack purple
piping
·
Conducting
daily inspections for leaks and sprinkler vandalism at all parks, right of ways
and landscape maintenance districts. Leaks are isolated, shut off immediately and
usually repaired within 24-hours. The city receives email notifications from
Padre Dam MWD for when water meters indicate abnormal flows
