.......................................................... Page 1 of 5 Water Usage Analysis This analysis is an update of a paper prepared for the California Coastal Commission hearing. Time and materials are donated to the Yes on H and No on I campaign. Murphy Windmill One of two windmills built to pump irrigation water from the aquifer under Golden Gate Park. BEACH CHALET SOCCER FIELDS LIVING GRASS VS. ARTIFICIAL TURF WATER USAGE ANALYSIS Prepared by SF Ocean Edge October 19, 2014 www.sfoceanedge.org ........................................................................................................................................................................ The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department has repeatedly stated that installing artificial turf at the Beach Chalet Athletic Fields is environmentally beneficial. One of the claims for environmental benefit has been that water will be saved by using artificial turf instead of living grass. However, a closer look at the facts shows just the opposite - water will be lost to the aquifer and the public will be paying the cost of sewage treatment for millions of gallons of water because of this project. The current irrigation water for the Beach Chalet area comes from the aquifer under Golden Gate Park, and a great deal of it is returned to the aquifer through soil percolation. With a few exceptions of plantings that need special water supplies, Hetch Hetchy water is not used to water most of Golden Gate Park. RPD water usage figures used in the official documents are incorrect. RPD commissioned a study of water usage based on WUCOLS. (WUCOLS is a formula established by the State to help show how much water might be used in irrigating a landscape.) The result from using this formula was 5.7 million gallons irrigation water needed for all 4 of the Beach Chalet fields. It is not known if the foggy conditions that prevail at Ocean Beach were taken into account in this abstract calculation. But internal e-mails, discovered during a routine Sunshine request, show that Ana Alvarez, the RPD Superintendent of Parks & Open Spaces, had written to Dan Mauer, the RPD Capital Project Manager for the Capital Improvement Division, to disagree with the 5.7 million gallon figure: "I was surprised to learn the number on water use that has been used by Capital to describe the field maintenance practices as part of the project proposal. It appears that the number was based on assumptions and without the participation of my staff. Since the delta on water consumption is significant (4x of actual use), I would like to better understand your calculations." (2-7-2013 Alvarez Email #1) Alvarez forwarded an email to Mauer from Steve Castile, the RPD Golf and Turf Manager who went out to the fields and measured the actual amount of water that is used at Beach Chalet. The figure Castile came up with is "the total usage is between 1.3 and 1.5 million gallons." Mauer's response to Alvarez and Castile is: "Not sure we need to beat this one up too much but would be interesting to compare the two side by side. The good thing is that we are saving water."
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Beach Chalet Soccer Fields - Water Usage Analysis of Grass vs. Artificial Turf
View other presentations: STADIUM LIGHTING IMPACTS: http://www.slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/impact-of-artificial-lighting-on-golden-gate-park-ocean-beach OVERVIEW OF IMPACTS ON GGP AND OCEAN BEACH; http://www.slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/beach-chalet-fields-the-threat-to-golden-gate-park-and-ocean-beach REASONS TO VOTE YES ON H AND NO ON I: http://www.slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/coalition-for-sf-neighborhoods-golden-gate-park-ballot Coalition for SF Neighborhoods - Why you should vote Yes on H and No on I http://www.slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/coalition-for-sf-neighborhoods-golden-gate-park-ballot?related=2 Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, letter on Damage to Golden Gate Park by Beach Chalet project http://www.slideshare.net/SFOceanEdge/milford-wayne-donaldson-letter-beach-chalet The SF Recreation and Park Department claims that installing 7 acres of artificial turf at the Beach Chalet soccer fields in Golden Gate Park will save water. This is not the case -- on the contrary, it will cost water. Please review this analysis to learn more. YES ON H! NO ON I!
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