Santee's Efforts to Conserve Water

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

 

 

 

Time to Go on a Water Diet

It’s time for all of us to go on the quarter-back water diet.

Whenever you take a shower or irrigate your landscaping, reduce your previous water usage by a quarter—25 percent.

Water conservation is necessary because California and much of the West has experienced four years of severe drought coupled with record high temperatures. It’s going to get worse: Scientists this month recorded a record-low winter snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

Last week, these circumstanced prompted California Governor Jerry Brown to announce the state’s first-ever mandatory water restrictions.

Santee’s water supplier, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, has positioned itself to deal with the crisis by moving forward on its Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Project, which is scheduled to be operating in 2016. The project may eventually provide a new water supply for Padre Dam’s water customers and the entire East County region.  

Residents and businesses shouldn’t wait for the state’s new regulations to be finalized.  Start conserving now by:
·         Taking shorter showers. Even better, use a bucket to capture water while your shower warms up and use that water on your plants.  
·         Promptly fix leaks inside and outside your home. Also remember to wash only full loads of laundry and dishes.
·         Turning off irrigation systems for as long as possible before rainstorms and up to several weeks after.
See more at: http://www.sdcwa.org/whenindrought#sthash.h3yzmdPH.dpuf

Santee the First to Conserve Water While Keeping Streets Clean

Santee will soon become the first city in San Diego County to use partially treated or reclaimed water for street sweeping rather than drinking water.

The switch to reclaimed water will save a small amount of money.  But more importantly, it will reduce the use of potable water by 60,000 gallons each year and add to our region’s water conservation efforts.
“Although the cost savings is minimal, switching to reclaimed water is a great idea because it conserves a valuable resource: drinking water,” said Kathy Valverde, who oversees the city’s Sustainability Program.  “It may seem like an obvious alternative, but we’ll actually be the first city in the region to accomplish this.”
The change was a collaborative effort between the City of Santee, CleanTECH San Diego and Padre Dam Municipal Water District.  It was also a change that took three years to accomplish because it required complicated approvals from the California Department of Public Health and the Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency that enforces the federal Clean Water Act.

Padre Dam is installing special filling stations at five locations throughout the city where street sweepers can fill up with reclaimed water.  The district will also provide required training for street sweeping crews on procedures to prevent reclaimed water from cross connecting with the potable water system.

While the city will be saving potable water as a result of the switch, the state approvals will also allow Padre Dam to save over 1 million gallons of drinking water annually, which are used to clean and maintain the sewer system.

Canon Pacific, which currently contracts with Santee for street sweeping, has been cooperating with the switch to reclaimed water and has agreed to retrofit its equipment.  The city will also require the use of reclaimed water for street sweeping in future contracts. 

“As a water conservation measure, I hope the switch will be one that other cities and water districts can model,” said Valverde.