Atwater gives watering exemption to high schools

Atwater’s high schools were given an exemption that allows for five days of watering per week after a split vote this week from the City Council.

With a 3-2 vote, the council approved the Merced Union High School District’s appeal asking to be able to water more than other consumers, who get two days of watering. Mayor Jim Price and Councilman James Vineyard cast the dissenting votes at the council meeting.

Ted Walstrom, the school district’s maintenance and operations manager, said the district began conservation efforts last year and he expects all of its schools will meet state-mandated reductions, even while watering five days a week.

“We are not receiving or asking for a free pass,” he said.

Before the state made drought-related mandates, he said, Atwater High had reduced its use by 22 percent while Buhach Colony’s consumption was down by 15 percent.

Walstrom told the council that two days of watering per week is unrealistic for schools with dozens of acres of grass. The athletic surfaces need more water to remain safe for the people using them.

The other parts of the schools, where the foot traffic is much lower, are watered twice a week, he said.

“Our campuses aren’t lush green campuses,” he said. “We really are conserving water.”

The watering system across the district, which has schools in Merced and Livingston as well, has more than 20,000 sprinklers. Groundskeepers need to be able to test and work on the sprinklers during the day, he said, though watering is not allowed for homeowners from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Vineyard said five days a week of watering is asking too much, noting that the Atwater Elementary School District has not sought an exemption.

Gov. Jerry Brown said last spring that he would push for legislation authorizing fines of up to $10,000 a day for extreme water wasters, which could include cities and water providers who don’t meet their mandated targets.

Vineyard said he would not support the district’s exemption without first seeing a plan for conservation from the district, noting that Atwater High gets all of its water from the city. “They are not going to get dinged the $10,000 a day,” he said. “We are.”

Buhach Colony High receives a portion of its water from the city and the rest from Merced Irrigation District.

Price echoed the concerns about potential fines. He also said the city’s 30,000 residents have been asked to water just twice a week, so the schools should as well.

The city of Atwater reduced its overall water use by 24.1 percent in June compared with the baseline year, according to the most recent numbers from the State Water Resources Control Board. It still has work to do to reach the 36 percent mandate from the state.

However, schools are trying to maintain fields for the safety of their users. As the grass on athletic fields dries out, the plane can become dangerous, said John Sanchotena II, a groundskeeper at Atwater High. “It’s not flat and even, and you get a lot of divots,” he said.

The rest of the grass on that campus gets considerably less water – just enough to be “on life support,” he said.

Councilman Joe Rivero, who voted for the exemption, said he believed the district could use “educated watering” to maintain the fields while conserving water. He said water users in the city shouldn’t have to let everything turn brown.

He also said public parks and school fields should be treated differently than private lawns, because they are open to use by all residents. “You’re comparing apples to oranges,” he said.

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 4:14 PM with the headline "Atwater gives watering exemption to high schools."