Cuesta College lets campus lawns go brown to save water

Grassy areas on Cuesta College’s North County and San Luis Obispo campuses are turning brown or disappearing as college officials try to save millions of gallons of water each year.

The college is under the same state mandate as many California communities and cities to cut water use by 25 percent as compared to its 2013 usage.

The landscaping changes have been in the works for some time and, so far, seven lawns on the San Luis Obispo campus have been eliminated and all of the others are in a stressed condition from reduced watering, said Terry Reece, director of facilities services planning and capital projects.

“All landscaping will be impacted in some way,” Reece said, including the college’s athletic fields.

Reece said the softball and baseball fields are in a stressed condition; the soccer and track fields are dormant, meaning “they’re not dead, but they haven’t been watered,” he said.

One soccer field has been kept in playing condition, but some uses on the fields have been canceled — including a local soccer tournament in the fall.

College officials estimate that the landscaping changes will save between 4.99 million and 6.52 million gallons of water a year on both campuses.

In 2013, the 150-acre San Luis Obispo campus used about 130 acre-feet of water a year, or more than 42.3 million gallons (an acre-foot of water is equal to 325,850 gallons). In 2014, that campus used closer to 118 acre-feet of water, or 38.4 million gallons, Reece said.

By comparison, the 105-acre North County campus, which has fewer students, no athletic fields and no pool, uses about 1.5 million gallons of water a year.

Eventually, Reece said, 50 percent to 80 percent of the 80 to 90 lawn areas on the San Luis Obispo campus — which vary greatly in size — will be removed.

“We anticipate taking multiple lawns off the Paso campus, too,” he said.

Some areas will be replaced with wood bark; others will have drought-resistant plants installed.

In addition, 120 toilets and 34 urinals will be replaced with low-flow versions by the end of June on both campuses, according to a news release. An air-cooled chiller was also recently installed on the North County campus, which will dramatically reduce the use of a larger water-cooled chiller.

The North County campus receives water from the city of Paso Robles. The San Luis Obispo campus relies solely on state water and has been allocated the same amount — about 130 acre-feet a year — since the early 1970s, as enrollment grew from about 3,000 to about 10,000 students, Reece said.

Cuesta College pays an annual set fee for its water allowance from the state, so the college won’t save money by cutting its water use on the San Luis Obispo campus.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Cuesta College lets campus lawns go brown to save water."