Triunfo Park to use reclaimed water Conversion will cost district $600K acorn dec 8 16

Triunfo Park to use reclaimed water

Conversion will cost district $600K acorn dec 8 16

IRRIGATION CHANGE—Westlake’s Triunfo Community Park will be the second park in the CRPD system to stop using drinking water to stay green. ACORN FILE PHOTOWestlake’s Triunfo Community Park will soon become the second public park in Thousand Oaks to be irrigated with recycled water.

During its Dec. 1 meeting, Conejo Rec and Park District’s board of directors awarded a $600,000 contract to FS Contractors Inc. of Sylmar to convert the existing irrigation system at the park to allow for the use of reclaimed water, which is safe for plants but not for human consumption.

In 2015, irrigating Triunfo Park required an estimated 6.7 million gallons of potable, or drinking, water, Park Administrator Tom Hare said.

CRPD’s first reclaimed water system, at North Ranch Neighborhood Park, went online this year. The price tag for that project was around $316,000.

Asked about the difference in cost between North Ranch and Triunfo, Hare said the new project budget includes $175,000 for converting grassy areas at the park into mulch and other types of drought-tolerant landscaping. This approach has been used throughout the park district since the start of California’s six-year drought, resulting in millions of gallons of water saved each year.

“We’re removing a lot more turf than we did at North Ranch Neighborhood,” Hare said. “With reclaimed water, you can’t be irrigating around picnic tables and around the playgrounds and near streets and roads. . . . Since there’s more acreage at Triunfo, there’s more turf removal.”

As with the North Ranch conversion, CRPD will need to purchase a $113,000 booster pump to draw the reclaimed water from a California Water Company pipeline that runs along Westlake Boulevard.

“The pressure at the end of the line . . . is not sufficient enough for proper irrigation, so we have to boost the pressure,” Hare said.

CalWater has already taken the steps to extend the line to just below Triunfo Park.

“They take it to our doorstep, we take it the rest of the way,” Hare said.

Work on the new system, which is expected get underway in January, will bring some other changes to the park, including new concrete walkways, tree and shrub planting, and mulch groundcover. Construction is expected to last two to three months.

During construction, portions of the park will be closed.

—Kyle Jorrey