THE SITE: Carmel Valley Road, San Diego |
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THE SITE: Carmel Valley Road, San Diego
THE PROBLEM: With increasingly tough water restrictions, drought-tolerant landscaping is the environmentally conscious way to go in San Diego when spending public money.
So Julie Birchall was surprised to see ice plant, coyote bush and other greenery along some Caltrans property getting irrigated day after day, week after week, month after month. It's been happening on the ramp from Carmel Valley Road to westbound state Route 56. “They're watering every single day,” Birchall said, an approach she considers potentially more damaging than no water at all.
On one recent weekday visit, a lower row of six sprinklers kicked on about 1:45 p.m. and kept working about 15 minutes. Then an upper row of eight sprinklers sprayed for a full 20 minutes, with at least some overlap in the coverage. Fortunately, it's reclaimed water. But when Birchall tried bringing the apparent waste to the attention of Caltrans, she was told it was a contractor's responsibility.
STATUS: The contractor, ValleyCrest Landscape Development, reduced the watering cycle yesterday after an on-site check.
Caltrans hired ValleyCrest to install greenery along a five-mile corridor that includes the ramp, said Edward Cartagena, a spokesman for the district office. The company is required to keep the plants alive for three years, until April 2009. It's up to the company to determine how to do so.
At ValleyCrest, assistant branch manager Brendan McFadden sent a technician to check out the site yesterday to see if anything has gone wrong with the irrigation programming. The watering had been shut down after last week's rainfall, but McFadden said it has been restarted with a significantly shorter irrigation cycle.
Cartagena said Caltrans “can modify (the irrigation) however we want” in the spring, and McFadden noted the highway agency will be able to alter the watering from its own offices.
WHO'S RESPONSIBLE: William Valle, Caltrans deputy director for maintenance and traffic in San Diego, who can be reached at (619) 688-6709 or william.valle@dot.ca.gov
NEED A PROBLEM SOLVED: Is there a problem government hasn't fixed despite your complaints? Just Fix It might be able to help.
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