New plumbing for recycled water

The Town Green fountain could be re-plumbed to permanently use
recycled water if the Council agrees to a proposal that will be put
forward by staff at their January 6 meeting.
If approved, the permanent switch to recycled water would be
paid for by existing funds and be complete by the summer
entertainment season.
At the July 1 meeting, the Town declared a Stage 2 Water
Emergency that asks residential customers to reduce consumption by
30 percent while irrigation only customers were asked for a 50
percent reduction in order to meet a state mandated overall
reduction of 25 percent below 2004 levels.
As part of the effort to educate residents on water
conservation, the council voted to drain the 8,000 gallon fountain
and erect signs that said “Fountain shut off due to water
emergency” as a means of promoting conservation.
At their August 19 meeting, the Town Council voted to refill the
fountain with recycled water. The fountain was refilled and running
within 24 hours of the vote and it has been maintained by town
staff who top up the water levels by hand as the water feature is
not connected to the Town’s recycled water system.
Town staff have been studying ways to permanently connect the
fountain to a source of recycled water and the council will debate
the proposal at their January 6 meeting.
According to the staff report, staff believe the fountain can be
connected to the recycled water irrigation system already present
on the Town Green. The estimated cost for the project is $7,500 and
money for the work is available in the town’s Water Reclamation
Operating Fund.
Work on the new water connection will be done in house and staff
believe it can be finished during the time the fountain is already
scheduled to be drained.
The fountain was scheduled to be shut down from November 1 to
May 1 as part of an ongoing cost saving measure but water has kept
flowing due to a request by the council to keep the fountain full
during the holiday season. Water will be drained from January 1
through May 1.
“It’s going to be very small scale,” said Parks and Facilities
Maintenance Superintendent Jim O’Brien. “Most people won’t even
know it’s been done.”
In addition to the environmental benefit of using recycled
water, the Town will save money once the fountain is connected and
staff said they expect the switch will save enough money in the
current budget cycle to cover the additional cost of the fountain
during November and December of this year.
According to the California Department of Public Health’s 2009
regulations for recycled water, properly treated recycled water is
approved for body contact and could be used to fill pools or
ponds
The document says recycled water has been approved for
“nonrestricted recreational impoundment” which means recycled water
can be used without restriction in projects that involve
recreational body contact such as pools or swimming holes.
Recycled water has also been specifically approved for use in
decorative fountains, flushing toilets, priming drain traps,
industrial process water that may come into contact with workers,
structural fire fighting, commercial laundries, consolidation of
backfill around potable water pipelines, artificial snow making for
commercial outdoor use, and some commercial car washes.