In drought, water-wasting public sprinklers are all wet

When Long Beach launched tough watering restrictions last month, city officials asked residents to report leaky sprinklers and other wasteful water practices. So far, 428 complaints have been logged, 83 of them targeting leaking sprinkler systems in city parks, street medians and along freeways.

In call after call, citizens asked: Why are public sprinklers spewing water across sidewalks? Why do sprinklers run in parks at times that residents are barred from watering their own lawns? Why do some freeway sprinklers water in the rain?

As drought-conscious Southern California cities urge water conservation during a record dry year, municipal- and state-owned sprinklers can offer an all-too-visible waste that sends millions of gallons of drinking water down the drain or evaporating into thin air.

Cities throughout the region and Caltrans said their errant sprinklers pose an embarrassing quandary. But upgrading public irrigation systems is so expensive that most can only aim for piecemeal improvements.

“When people hear a message from the government, telling them to conserve, and they see the government wasting huge amounts of water, it makes people very cynical,” said Matthew Lyons, planning and conservation director at the Long Beach Water Department. “It sends the wrong message.”

Large cities with antiquated systems are struggling to solve irrigation problems, while others have made progress:

* Los Angeles and Long Beach have been slow to fix some of the oldest sprinkler systems in the region. L.A. simply caps many of its broken sprinkler heads because it can’t keep up with the repairs. Long Beach estimated that citywide repairs would cost at least $40 million.

* Anaheim has added a modern, $1.5-million centralized system in city parks and other landscaped areas that is expected to reduce irrigation water use by 15% to 20%.

* Santa Ana has placed modern sprinkler systems on its new street medians and is keeping close watch over faulty sprinklers, said Mary Gonzales, project manager at the city’s Public Works Agency. “If it’s broken, we replace it,” Gonzales said.

* Riverside has been installing “smart sprinklers” since the 1960s, and they now operate in about 60% of its 56 parks, said principal park planner Robert Johnson.

* San Diego recently upgraded part of the Mission Bay Park sprinkler system. Balboa Park sprinklers are partially automated, and all new parks are on automatic systems, said Parks and Recreation Director Stacey Lomedico.

* Only a fraction of reclaimed water is used by the largest of cities and Caltrans because of the high cost of running pipes to antiquated sprinkler systems. In Los Angeles, for instance, only 1% of all city water is reclaimed. Only 5% of water used by Caltrans for freeway irrigation is reclaimed. In Long Beach, 8% is reclaimed.

Although modernized irrigation systems save a city water and money in the long run, the initial investment can be daunting.

A computerized “smart” system, which can detect weather conditions and adjust water usage accordingly, can reduce water use by 20% to 40%, said Rick Capitanio, vice president of sales at California Sensor Corp., a Carlsbad-based firm that makes such city systems. His system, however, does not include new pipes and other equipment, he said.

“That,” he said, “is going to cost a lot of money.”

Some water experts say that it might be time to stop growing grass on median islands and replace it with drought-resistant plants.

“It’s very difficult to come up with an efficient irrigation system for a long, narrow lawn. It’s crazy to even try,” said Rick Soehren, chief of the Office of Water Use Efficiency and Transfers at the state Department of Water Resources.

He believes that cities should invest in conservation-minded landscaping because the sight of leaking sprinklers along streets and freeways “sends a message to so many people.”

But without funding for costly systems, most cities can only undertake small projects.

Most of the Los Angeles irrigation systems, installed in the 1950s and 1960s, lack weather-sensitive controls, soil moisture sensors and water-stingy sprinkler heads -- the very equipment that cities are urging residents to install. Modern sprinkler systems in city parks could save enough water to serve about 4,774 households, according to calculations based on Department of Water and Power statistics.

About 75% of the sprinklers on the city’s 330 acres of landscaped median islands are leaky, broken or capped largely because cars have run over them, a public works official said. In the past five years state-of-the art sprinklers have been installed on about 35 acres of medians, but there are no plans to replace the entire median system.

So-called smart irrigation controllers have been installed at 35 of Los Angeles’ 400 parks and plans call for 45 more parks to be outfitted next year, officials said.

“Our goal is that every irrigation system in every park will be on weather-smart irrigation,” said Michael Shull, superintendent of planning and development for the city Department of Recreation and Parks.

“We have a goal to reduce our water usage over the next five years by 25%.”

Local cities have no control over some of the most high-profile leaking sprinklers in the state -- those along state freeways maintained by Caltrans, which oversees the broadest expanse of landscaping of any entity in California.

Caltrans is not required to comply with water restrictions in Long Beach or other areas, spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio wrote in an e-mail.

“The state is not bound by city regulations, however Caltrans waters at night whenever and wherever possible,” she stated.

The number of sprinklers that can run at one time depends on water pressure, however, “and sometimes this means that some sprinklers go on during other hours of the day.”

A July 2006 Caltrans policy manual states, “Caltrans should comply with local agencies’ water conservation guidelines for watering times and use. During drought conditions, it is important to find out the local agencies’ watering practices [and] recommendations.”

Caltrans has been using water-conservation methods since the 1980s, reducing its water use with new equipment such as seasonal and programmable timers, Bonfilio said. All landscaping since the 1990s, she wrote, has featured drought-resistant plants.

Last month, the Metropolitan Water District board approved $15 million to help area cities install more water-stingy equipment and conduct audits.

But in Long Beach alone, a city study in 2001 estimated that it would cost $40 million to replace the entire irrigation system at its 110 parks and 169 acres of street medians. City officials estimate that a new system could save enough water to serve 904 households for a year.

Some valves on the city’s median islands are so old that maintenance workers are forced to drive by to turn them on by hand, one by one -- leaving them spouting and then circling back to shut them off, one by one.

While many modern systems automatically shut down leaking lines, Long Beach officials must rely on reports from employees or irritated residents, said Thomas A. Shippey, manager of maintenance operations for the city’s parks.

“I’m glad people are calling,” Shippey said. “I just wish they weren’t so angry with me.”

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deborah.schoch@latimes.com