Cal State Long Beach — with its more than 100 acres of campus landscape requiring millions of gallons of water monthly — is finding ways to conserve water even though it is exempt from city water usage restrictions.
The campus sits on state property and is therefore not subject to city laws. This includes the city’s strict water conservation plan.
But with sprawling campus landscape, the university has set out to balance conservation with landscape needs.
“We tried to go over and above, and we try not to wait for a crisis situation to conserve,” said Robert Quirk, director of Facilities Management. “We are conscious of conservation needs, not only in water, but in other things as well.”
According to Quirk, the university uses more than 50 percent reclaimed water and water from Bouton Creek to irrigate landscape.
Over the last three years, the installation of an irrigation control system using advanced technology to measure atmospheric conditions and soil moisture has helped in the conservation effort. For example, one of the system’s features has an automatic shutoff if a break in a water line is detected.
Along with the upkeep of university grounds, campus construction has required more water this summer.
Back in October 2007, ASI passed a resolution demanding the university adhere to the new, stricter standards set forth by the city.
“The purpose was to do our part in conserving water on our campus in small ways, such as not watering during times of the day when the water would be more likely to evaporate quicker. It was promoting steps to make our campus greener,” said ASI President Erin Swetland.
The Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners announced last week that the city had managed to break another record for the lowest water consumption in the last seven months.
According to Ryan Alsop, director of government and public affairs for the Long Beach Water Department, the conservation efforts have had obvious affects.
“We are about to set a new record low for the year going back 10 years. And we’re about 8 percent below average for the year,” Alsop said.
In June 2007, the Long Beach Water Department set mandatory prohibitions on outdoor water use and, according to Alsop, Long Beach remains one of the few cities to do so. The Emergency Water Supply Shortage Plan outlined punishable offenses that included washing outdoor cemented areas with garden hoses, irrigating any landscape between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. and no more than three days a week.
And while record low water use in Long Beach is important, a statewide drought cannot be fought alone, Alsop said.
“The only way to have a successful, extraordinary conservation effort that’s going to be sustained over the long term is if we have everybody in Southern California doing the same thing,” Alsop said.
So far, the Long Beach Water Department has not issued any citations, but Alsop said the current restrictions may change.
“As the water supply conditions worsen, so to will the local rules and regulations concerning water use as well as enforcement,” Alsop said.
