The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday passed a package of measures to respond to state orders to cut back on water use in the face of California's continuing drought.
The supervisors, who blasted state officials for not taking previous conservation measures into account when mandatory cutbacks were ordered last week, voted unanimously to continue retrofitting water systems at county facilities, installing artificial turf at county-run playing fields and reducing the operating hours of the fountains at the downtown Waterfront Park.
The county also plans to lessen irrigation along county roads, eliminate watering of plants in roadway medians, connect a water reclamation system at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee, and study the feasibility of such a system for nonpotable uses at the County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa.
Projects envisioned by county staff will cost $14.8 million, of which $13.2 million would be entirely new appropriations, according to April Heinze, the county director of general services.
She said more than half of the water used at county facilities was consumed at jails, and the amounts have increased annually since the state's prison realignment plan sent more inmates to county detention centers.
Supervisor Ron Roberts said they can and will do more to respond to the drought but joined his colleagues in criticizing the state's short-term focus.
"We're all faced with a serious crisis, but it's also clear that the shift in prisoners has complicated life for us," Roberts said. "I couldn't help but think that at the time where it's driving up our water usage, the state is probably patting themselves on the back for cutting their water usage and taking credit for reducing in their prisons the amount of water used."
The package of steps approved by the supervisors included continuing to lobby the state to amend the required cutbacks based on previous conservation efforts.
