As we approach an end to the first year of the City Hall maintenance contract, new challenges continue to crop up.  The first several months of Fall 2008 were spent on search and rescue.  Several trailers full of plant material were removed from the overgrown beds throughout the property, as we slowly figured out what needed to go and what should stay.  Holes were replanted this spring, mulch and compost have slowly been added, and we pieced together an understanding of the huge irrigation system.

The City Hall irrigation system is not hooked up to the City water supply.  Instead, the sole source of water is ground water, not so much from a traditional well, rather, a low spot among several city blocks that collects runoff from the surrounding area.  The low spot is equipped with a pump in the below-ground parking garage, designed to remove excess water during rains to prevent flooding. 

With no rain, there isn’t much water down there.  Underground springs still provide some flow into the “well”, but not in enough volume to support twenty something zones for even the most efficient irrigation system.  So with only one day to water under the new restrictions (which City Hall decided to follow, even though they don’t use the City water), our water supplies could not replenish itself fast enough to water the entire property in just 10 hours.

We put together a committee, 12-15 people from different City departments, and gathered in a conference room of City Hall to try to fix the problem (City Hall is a beautiful building, with rotating art exhibits of different media, paint, sculpture, hands-on manipulation stuff, electronic displays, and it’s open to the public of course.)

There were lots of ideas and responses, some more productive than others.  Joe, who works as a maintenance technician for City Hall, seemed to have the best understanding of the problem, the system, and how to fix it.  His idea was to simply turn off the sump pumps (which were really designed to avoid flooding anyway) to allow the well to recharge fast enough to avoid the need for a variance to the watering rules, which will, in the end, save water and save face for the City.  No need to freak out;  just a calm, thoughtful, logical approach from the man who knows the system better than anyone else in the room – that’s all we needed.

It seems to have improved the situation.  We were able to get through a watering cycle last week after Joe turned the pumps off, and hopefully will save thousands of dollars worth of plants that were showing bad signs of drought stress.

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