More than just a pretty park! Kevin M. Miller Director of Parks and Recreation City of Foster City, California
The City of Foster City is one of those California cities that is working to stay ahead of the curve on possible solutions. Foster City residents are passionate about their parks system and they have come to expect a high level of service and want that service to continue. Foster City’s parks, public spaces, facilities, and recreational space give life and beauty to the city. The Parks and Recreation staff that maintain that beauty take their duties very seriously when dealing with the task of creating a balance between aesthetics and water conservation. Irrigation is a major component of the water use in California. Farmers irrigate produce, and residents irrigate their gardens and lawns. Cities like 74
APWA Reporter
April 2014
Foster City are expected to irrigate the parks. The amount of park space in any given city or county agency that needs water is exponentially greater than the average household. As much as water is a vital resource, it is also more valuable today than it’s ever been. With that kind of value placed on water it is important that agencies responsibly manage water, and most are continually looking for ways to reduce use while maintaining the quality of the public facilities and landscape infrastructure. There are many techniques that can be used to reduce irrigation water use and Foster City has prioritized strategies in successful water conservation. Foster City is located in California about 20 miles south of San Francisco. The City manages 24 parks areas that encompass almost 200 acres of the 19-square-mile city. The Parks Division is the biggest water user in the city and can use up to 132,000 Ccf (98 Million Gallons) (1 Ccf = 748 gallons) of water per year to keep the
parks in the condition they can be found in today. The City of Foster City understands that they can no longer just turn on the water as needed. It is just not that simple today. In recent years park staff has utilized a diverse set of strategies in order to save water. Through their strategies the City of Foster City has seen water savings of approximately 37,000 Ccf per year, equivalent to 27.6 million gallons. The graph below is a snapshot of city landscape water use over a six year period that reflects reductions as a result of the strategies that have been implemented by the City of Foster City. Reaching a balance between a healthy, natural-looking park and significant water savings can be challenging. There is more to it than just reducing watering days and durations, especially if the park is to stay in pristine condition. Today’s citizens expect that their parks look good, but also demand that their tax money is being responsibly used to do so,
Landscape Water Use 150,000 132,710132,614122,907 Units
ark, open space, recreational areas, facilities, and programs are essential elements to creating a vibrant city. At the same time, economic and environmental changes are upon us. The state of California is in a severe drought; many people are thinking, talking, and enacting more in the best interest of water conservation. How will people handle cutting back on water use? What can be done to make those cutbacks? These are just a couple of the questions that are now being posed in this extremely scary time in the Golden State. Water is such a valued resource today. We need it to drink, clean, and produce energy, and while the water reservoirs get lower each year, Californians continue to struggle to find a solution.
100,000
104,094 95,954 82,534
50,000
Total water units
0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Year