Motorists Caught in Spray From Spat Over Sprinklers

City officials who have been taking heat for cutting off the water to most of the median landscaping along the town’s main street now must deal with a practical joker who is turning on the decrepit irrigation system at will.

Outbound motorists from the Del Mar Race Track were victims of one of the random waterings. Lines of cars caught in a bottleneck caused by the city’s traffic lights and stop signs along Camino Del Mar were treated to an impromptu car wash Wednesday evening.

Broken irrigation hoses and misdirected sprinklers poured gallons of water onto, under and into the slowly passing cars instead of watering the plantings in the narrow median of the highway.

City Council members, in a June budget hearing, ordered the sprinkler system turned off after they learned that it was in such sad shape that it was useless. Petitions, phone calls and letters poured into City Hall, and at Monday’s City Council meeting council members were accused of turning the water off and letting the landscaping perish simply to save a few pennies.

City Manager Bob Nelson said Thursday that someone had turned sections of the irrigation system on several times late Wednesday and early Thursday. The water, turned on at full volume, sent fountains of spray 15 feet high and flooded traffic lanes.

City Public Works Department crews were alerted to watch for the prankster and to attempt to keep the irrigation system shut down.

Nelson declined to guess which side of the landscape watering controversy had caused the unscheduled outpouring, and said he also was unsure whether “it was done by just one phantom waterer or whether several people all had the bright idea at the same time.”