UCLA’s Facilities Management ran sprinklers during midday
repeatedly this month, a behavior environmental groups call
wasteful.
A Los Angeles city ordinance aimed at water conservation
prohibits anyone from using sprinklers between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
April 1 through Sept. 30, and between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Oct. 1
through March 31.
Exceptions are granted for various circumstances, such as water
use during new construction and landscaping, according to the
city’s Web site.
UCLA does not normally use sprinklers in the middle of the day,
said Jack Powazek, assistant vice chancellor for General Services,
who added that sprinklers are usually run during the evening or
early morning.
“It’s done by exception rather than rule,”
Powazek said.
Some reasons facilities might run sprinklers during the day
include preparation for an event, such as the recent Festival of
Books, renovation to landscaping, when new grass has been planted,
or when the irrigation systems are being tested, he added.
Irrigation systems using recycled water are exempt from the
water-saving ordinance, says the Los Angeles Web site. UCLA uses
tap water for its sprinklers.
Violators of the ordinance will face extra charges on their
water bills.
The charges start at an additional 15 percent added to the
violator’s water bill on the first offense, the city’s
Web site explains. The extra charge jumps to 75 percent by the
third violation.
A sign posted in Dickson Plaza by the university earlier this
week said the watering was in compliance with city law.
Whether or not the watering was done legally, some say it is
still a bad practice and wastes water.
To conserve water, people should always do their irrigation at a
cool time of day, said Carol Tucker, a Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power spokeswoman.
“We recommend running sprinklers and doing irrigation in
the early morning because less water is lost to evaporation,”
Tucker said. “Also, when you water when it is cooler out, the
soil will retain moisture better.”
Others question why UCLA does not use recycled water.
“Considering the western United States is experiencing a
drought, it seems to be very wasteful to be using new water for
something as rudimentary as watering lawns,” said Greg
Wannier, a second-year political science and ecology behavioral
evolution biology student who is also the coordinator of the Water
Watch campaign for California Public Interest Research Group.
Though UCLA does not use recycled water for its irrigation, it
recycles the water used in its air-conditioning systems, Powazek
said.
Water used for greenery on campus is a smaller percentage of the
campus’s total water consumption than many people realize, he
added.
Air-conditioning systems on campus take up the largest share of
campus water use ““ about 50 percent ““ whereas
irrigation accounts for about 20 percent of total water use.