COLORADO SPRINGS — “Everything is so much more green with all the rain that we've gotten this year.”
As her son goes through his paces at a soccer camp for kids at Goose Gossage Park in Colorado Springs, Stephanie Schoenthaler offers her observations on the impact of a record water year.
“So much prettier, it's not as dry, not as kind of crunchy when they're running around in the grass.”
Parks are as green as they get.
“Mother Nature is the best source of moisture for our turf grass, trees and shrubs in the parks. There's really no replacement,” said Colorado Springs Parks Conservation Specialist Jarod Clayton.
The Colorado Springs Parks Department maintains over 880 acres of turf.
The water bill is one of the most expensive in the city.
Clayton’s job is to find ways to reduce that bill through conservation.
In recent years park planners have done things like replace some of the most water-needy turf with more water-friendly native grasses.
Watering systems have been upgraded to be more efficient, and include things like rain sensors that automatically pause watering when there is rain and the ground is wet.
Those sensors have kept sprinklers off a lot this year.
The Parks Department water bill for the April through June quarter showed a major drop.
“As of right now, through the month of June, we've saved around $800,000,” said Clayton, “Typically our budget through the month of June is 1.6 million. So, it's literally cut our water bill in half."
It’s an attention-getting amount of money saved.
Schoenthaler said, "That's amazing--that's crazy."
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
