This soccer field is one of two synthetic turf fields at Glendale's City Sports Complex. Photo courtesy of Bill Eubank, MWD.
Eliminate grass clippings, irrigation water, and those hard-to-remove grass stains on the knees of your football uniforms by carpeting your lawn or athletic fields with synthetic turf—the preferred term for what used to be called fake grass.
Artificial lawns are widely available for homes. Now the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Metropolitan Water District are partially funding a dozen Southern California test projects where cities and school districts have replaced real grass with synthetic turf on athletic fields and median strips. Expected benefits include reduced fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in the groundwater and urban runoff, and fewer grass clippings going to landfills.
Bill Eubank, resource specialist in Metropolitan’s Water Resource Management group, says the installation of synthetic turf doesn’t entirely eliminate water usage: “Actually, they do use some water to wash the fields off and to cool them down in the summer.”
You may not get the smell of fresh grass with synthetic turf, but you can come close. Eubank says, “It’s a professional football-field practice: If odors get in, like pet waste, you use a little diluted fabric softener to give it a nice, fresh scent.”
Want to see if the grass is really greener on the other side of the fence? You can see synthetic turf installations at Gabrielino High School, 13427 S. San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel; La Puente High School, 15615 E. Nelson Ave., La Puente; Glendale Sports Complex soccer fields, 2200 Fern Lane, Glendale; West Valley High School, 3401 Mustang Way, Hemet; and Temescal High School, 28755 El Toro Road, Lake Elsinore.
Irvine Ranch Water District has faux grass test plots in front of its headquarters building, 15600 San Canyon Ave., and is cooperating with the city of Irvine on a “lawn” in Windrow Park; and the city of Newport Beach on an area at Bonita Canyon Sports Park.
High-efficiency toilets are tomorrow’s toilet today. HET’s come in single-flush and dual-flush models but they all use 1.3 gallons-per-flush, or less. That saves three-tenths-of-a-gallon per flush. It adds up. “And there are some great rebates out there. Metropolitan is paying $165 incentives to participating water agencies, which is substantial on a toilet costing around $200,” says water efficiency expert John Koeller, whose stories about replicating “real-world demand” on 80 different HETs are, at the least, a tribute to ingenuity. Ask your retail water agency, or check bewaterwise.com, about HET rebates in your area.
The granddaddy of them all has something new to brag about—waterless urinals. Approximately 257 of these no-flush, water-saving fixtures were installed in the Rose Bowl through a $75,000 state grant after Pasadena’s Water & Power approached the stadium about the idea a couple of years ago. There’s no flushing involved; the waste flows down by gravity. Manufacturer Falcon WaterFree Technologies says the urinals save up to 45,000 gallons of water per year in addition to the cost savings of very minimal maintenance. The city also targeted school districts, some restaurants, office buildings, hotels and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. So next time you’re taking a half-time break or freshening up in one of the city’s fine establishments, you just may be taking a stand for water conservation. Chris Hamawi
When 2,700-plus Loyola Marymount University students returned from their winter break in early 2003 and spotted 85 new front-loading washers at their dorms, they instantly noticed the change, and it had nothing to do with water savings.
“The kids love them,” says Gerald Robinson, who’s in charge of saving energy at the Los Angeles campus, “because these front loaders really treat delicate items well.” Since the washers use less water, the clothes weren’t so dripping wet. That meant fewer quarters for the dryer.
“You can also get by with less detergent if you’re conscientious about it,” Robinson says.
Getting the new washers required breaking a lease on some older, less efficient models. A $250-per-washer incentive offered through Metropolitan Water District’s commercial rebate program helped cover the cost.
“Homeowners should be buying front-loaders, period,” Robinson says. “You can find entry-level models for $300.” And an optional storage bin means one doesn’t even have to bend over to load the clothes.
Since then, Loyola has built three more dormitories, and about 650 more students live on campus. But they use the same amount of water.
They’ve installed faucet aerators, along with program logic controllers on their sprinklers. The one-gallon pressure assisted toilets get a thumbs-up from the plumbing crew, who have even modified their urinals down to one quart per flush. Outdoors, they’ve been using recycled water and drought-tolerant plants.
“Water’s been a good story for us,” Robinson says.
When 2,700-plus Loyola Marymount University students returned from their winter break in early 2003 and spotted 85 new front-loading washers at their dorms, they instantly noticed the change, and it had nothing to do with water savings.
