Sustainable Peralta

The Laney College Garden will be one of the many sites served by EBMUD's recycled water.

LANEY COLLEGE – The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) will soon provide the entire Laney College campus and the Peralta District Offices sites with recycled water for use in all irrigation. Sergio Angel, Head Groundskeeper for the Peralta, expects EBMUD engineers to begin inspections this week to make sure no irrigation water will find its way into drinking water.

When completed, the retrofit will save Laney College approximately $6000, since recycled water is 25% less expensive than fresh water. The College currently uses 3.7 Million gallons of fresh water for irrigation each year.

“I thought it was crazy [to use recycled sewage water]. I heard that the water smelled, so I didn’t want it,” remembers Sergio. “Then [in 2006] we went for a tour [at their test sites] and the grasses and flowers EBMUD’s test plots looks good. They looked healthy, so we decided to try it.”

Recycled water is wastewater that has been treated and disinfected to meet stringent and protective standards set by the California Department of Public Health. Recycled water is not a drinking water supply. It eliminates the need for more potable water facilities, reduces the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the San Francisco Bay, and increases water supply reliability during a drought.

“When we started looking into the cost… back then it was only 4% cheaper, now its probably 25% less,” explains Sergio. “We can use as much as we can without penalties. With regular fresh water, we have to pay a penalty if we use above a certain amount.”

Although the District had signed a agreement in 2003 to be a recycled-water recipient, it was not until 2006 when the Department of General Service received preliminary drawings from EBMUD engineers. At that time, Dr. Sadiq Ikharo, Vice Chancellor for the Department of General Services, had heard from various sources that the quality of the recycled water had improved. He directed Bob Beckwith, Director of Maintenance and Operations, to actively work with EBMUD to bring the project to fruition.

In November 2009, Valley Crest Landscape Company (EBMUD’s contractor for the Laney and District Office connection), began marking all irrigation controllers and valves in purple, the identifier for recycled water. Valley Crest expects to complete the repainting of the boxes and tagging the control valves by January 2010. Once the work is finished and inspected, EBMUD will begin transferring service to the purple pipelines underneath 10th street.