City Continues Water Reduction Efforts

The City of Capitola has been proactively working to reduce its water consumption and serve as an example to its residents for many years. In the first seven months of 2014, we have reduced our overall consumption by 31.7 percent or almost 1.5 million gallons. See the chart below for a quick comparison.

Earlier water conservation efforts began with the removal of all turf from street medians and converting to water-saving flush valves in City facilities. The 2008 remodel and expansion of the Esplanade bathrooms included new water-conserving fixtures and waterless urinals.

This year we’ve converted the turf area of Soquel Creek Park to a “water wise” landscape, installed low-flow valves and shower heads on the Esplanade showers, reduced the turf area at Jade Street Park, and continued the conversion of City Hall's landscaping. More sites are planned for upgrading as time and funding allows.

Capitola is a favorite year-round destination of many visitors, and the Public Works Department takes pride in providing a clean and safe environment, not only for these visitors, but for our local residents and businesses as well.

Every day, our crew gets out early and cleans all the public restrooms, the streets and sidewalks in the Village, the beach, and our parks. In the summer, we use recycled water to pressure wash the sidewalks throughout the Village three times. This is done for sanitary reasons; spilled food stains the sidewalk and can cause odors.

Another of our responsibilities is to provide clean and safe recreational sites for City programs, youth and adult leagues, the school district, and families that don’t have lawns anymore. The Public Works Department has done its best to balance the need for safe playing fields while still conserving water. We do this by constantly checking our systems for leaks and making adjustments to our watering programs.

By reducing the water to surrounding turf and landscape areas near playing fields, we’ve reduced water use by a third to half.

The Capitola Public Works Department will continue to do its best to balance community needs with water conservation efforts and to maintain the clean and safe City that we love.

The chart below shows our total reductions (in units) by water district.