Stanford ‘Big Green’ Woe: A Water Fine of $209,000

Stanford University will pay a steep price for keeping its football field and campus green after mandatory water rationing was imposed during the summer.

The university has been fined $209,000 by the San Francisco Water Department, its largest supplier of water, since August. Its bill for October alone ran an extra $127,237 because Stanford used 25.9 million gallons beyond its limit, about a third more than its allotment.

The state’s water crisis, brought on by four consecutive years of below-average rainfall, has forced most water customers in the area to endure short showers and brown lawns.

Overall, 80% of customers have managed to stay within their allotments, according to Cheryl Davis, manager of the water department’s customer service division.

But Stanford utilities manager David Kaye said the school had to water the campus extensively in October because it was such a dry month.

Since August the university has used 54 million gallons of excess water.

Until this week, Stanford had been watering its football field, lawns and golf course with water from supplies at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir near Yosemite.

“Some of the athletic fields are also classrooms, if you want to stretch the meaning of classrooms,” Kaye said.

But a long-term water conservation plan is needed, university officials concede.

Stanford has installed meters on buildings that didn’t have them, including 800 faculty homes, and it turned off its seven decorative fountains and stopped washing university cars.

The 25.9 million extra gallons Stanford used in October was enough to supply more than 14,000 people for a month, based on figures from the water department.