The City Council Monday passed a City Parks and Facilities Water Conservation Plan that includes a target reduction of about 4.1 million gallons in water use throughout city-owned properties compared to 2014 numbers. This reduction will come in part through limiting the watering of native plants and “nonessential” turf.
“The approach … to develop a conservation plan was understanding past, present and projected use of the water,” Parks and Recreation Director Bob Stallings told council during his presentation.
The plan, presented to council by Stallings and Parks Supervisor Drew Belter, details how water is used by the city now, as well as which uses are considered “non-essential.”
So what’s the plan?
According to Stallings, the city has prepared five stages in water conservation depending on the severity of drought conditions, ranging from stage one (no drought conservation measures required) to stage five (40 percent or greater reduction in water use).
In 2015, the city is entering stage four: 20 to 40 percent reduction in water use.
“We would stop watering established native plants, there would be no watering of nonessential turf, watering of essential turf is limited to maintain safe playable conditions [and] water may only be used to clean equipment, structures and hardscape areas for health and safety reasons,” Stallings explained. Nonessential turf includes the turf areas surrounding ball diamonds and soccer fields at Malibu Bluffs and Trancas Canyon parks — but turf in playing areas would still be watered to be used for sports and recreation.
In 2014, approximate annual water use in city parks and facilities reached 12.8 million gallons. This was the highest it had been since 2011, when the city acquired Legacy Park and Trancas Canyon Park, and water use skyrocketed to 16.7 million gallons across the city. In 2012, use dropped by five-and-a-half million gallons following newly implemented water use reduction measures, but the ongoing drought has caused the city to use its own resources to keep parks green.
In 2015, officials hope to cut back to a total water expenditure of 8.71 million gallons.
The City of Malibu’s water is going overwhelmingly toward two city parks: Bluffs Park and Trancas Canyon Park.
“The facilities most reliant on water use are Malibu Bluffs [and] Trancas Canyon parks, which combined require nearly 70 percent of Malibu water use,” Stallings explained. Malibu Bluffs Park alone uses about 49 percent of all water allocated by the city.
“Las Flores Creek, Legacy, Trancas Canyon and Bluffs parks are most adversely affected by the drought, due to a significant amount of irrigated native landscaping and non-native plants, which include our turf at these parks,” Stallings went on to say.
In the face of the drought, the city exceeded state mandated water use targets at nearly all facilities in 2014, including watering PCH medians, water use at City Hall and watering in all four city parks. This year, the city has already been approved to go eight percent over its compliance level of watering at Las Flores Creek Park and 15 percent over its compliance level of watering at Malibu Bluffs Park. An application to exceed watering targets at Legacy Park by 25 percent is still pending.
Alternatives are hard to come by
Council, which passed the conservation plan unanimously, questioned Belter about possible alternatives.
“Is there some less-thirsty turf you could be using?” Council Member Joan House asked.
“There are many kinds of turf, and at Trancas Park we use one of the best kinds of turf for low water use, that’s Bermudagrass. There are other types of grasses, but there are things to be concerned with for using other types of grass. They spread readily and they’re invasive, and you have to control them,” Belter said.
“We have our athletic fields [see] a lot of use, so we have to have a very sturdy grass that can be playable, that we can manage, that we make sure can make it through soccer season and little league season,” Stallings added.
Belter also added, following further questioning, that Bermudagrass is not ideal for Bluffs Park, which has a median temperature below that of Bermudagrass ideal conditions, in the 90s year round.
Grass will not be removed, since recycled water will eventually be coming following the implementation of the Civic Center Wastewater Treatment Facility.
“We don’t want to take it out and let it die unless we absolutely commit to that, because … in a couple years we’ll have recycled water, more than we need,” Belter said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story listed an incorrect name for the Parks and Recreation Director. The story has been updated with corrected information.
