Merced College adopts plan to reduce water use

Merced College’s board of trustees adopted a new water conservation plan last week in an attempt to meet Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandate of 25 percent reduction by all water users, and the proposed 36 percent reduction the city of Merced faces.

Despite the mandate last year to reduce water use by 20 percent, Merced College conserved a meager 5.6 percent, according to school records. The board voted unanimously last Tuesday to implement a number of new conservation efforts in different parts of the campus, with some going as far as to halt watering the grass altogether.

Cindy Lashbrook, trustee for Area 1, said the new plan goes significantly further in cutting back on water waste.

She said the conservation effort was overdue. “You have an established community that’s used to things being a certain way,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to get over that barrier, too.”

The school hopes to meet the goals by cutting its lawn sprinkling by one-quarter while finding ways to save on the water used in drinking fountains and restrooms.

The reduction efforts call for more efficient bathroom fixtures. They also could eventually require the school to upgrade its control systems for sprinklers, including sensors that would shut the system down for 48 hours if they sense rain.

Some of the more drastic efforts would leave grass without any water. The plan marks off three different types of landscape that could be purposely left to turn brown without water.

About 12.8 acres of land is supposed to be fitted immediately with drip irrigation for its trees. Once that’s in place, the school would cease watering those acres of lawn, which includes much of the large swaths of grass that face Yosemite Avenue and other spots.

Two other designations – one of about 2 acres and another of 3.9 acres – could also be left to turn brown. The college will continue to assess that landscape, as it also adds drought tolerant plants.

Bryan Tassey, a horticulture professor on campus, helped the college come up with its conservation plan. He ranked the three levels of landscape – which are marked on an online map as red, yellow or blue – by how important it is to stop watering the grass.

“With the (state) mandate, it sparked a huge public dialogue,” he said. “I think the college is doing the proactive approach.”

More commonly used areas, like the quad and athletic fields, would see no changes under the plan other than being fitted with more efficient sprinkler heads.

The Los Banos campus could eventually get a new sprinkler control system as well.

Mike Wegley, director of water resources for the city of Merced, said Merced College is up toward the top of the list for water users within the city because it has so much green space. He said its cooperation in conserving water is important for reaching the state mandate.

“That’s what it’s going to take, people wanting to conserve water rather than us telling people to conserve water,” he said.

It would be good to see elementary and high schools in the city follow the college’s example, he said.

Highlights of the conservation plan were included in the agenda of the board’s last meeting, beginning on page 106. A link to an online map showing the efforts in different parts of the campus is also included in the materials.

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Merced College adopts plan to reduce water use."