(Photos courtesy of Heather Perry)
The Manhattan Beach Marriott Golf Club proudly announces the beginning of a new era — a green era. The West Basin Municipal Water District held a ceremony at the Marriott on July 1 to congratulate the course on using recycled water rather than potable water. This will save California 16.3 million gallons of drinking water.
Julie Sharp of the Beach Reporter covered the valve-turning ceremony.
Manhattan Beach City Council members along with Manhattan Beach Marriott management and representatives of the West Basin Municipal Water District came together for a valve-turning ceremony July 1 on the Marriott’s golf course to commemorate the switch from potable to recycled water to irrigate the greens. A hotel golf course in Manhattan Beach will save millions of gallons of drinking water each year with its recent switch to sprinkling the greens with recycled water.Over the last year, the Manhattan Beach Marriott has been working on the conversion with the West Basin Municipal Water District to connect with its water recycling plant in El Segundo, the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility. Here, wastewater that would otherwise be discharged into the ocean is treated so it is suitable for irrigation and poses no danger to wildlife, thereby conserving drinking water purchased and imported from the Colorado River.The conversion for the Marriott’s 20-acre, nine-hole golf course came one day before the city’s new water conservation ordinance went into effect July 2.The city’s ordinance regulates when landscapes are to be watered, in order to monitor enforcement, and for what period of time, in efforts to keep consumption down because of the statewide water shortage. Also, the MWD is requiring all of its recipients, including Manhattan Beach, to use 10 percent less or supply costs will increase.Marriott Marketing Director Mark Rose said the course can still be watered daily in the off hours as needed to keep it green, and will not violate the city’s ordinance since it is not using potable, or drinkable, water. “That’s 16.3 million gallons of drinking water each year that we will not be using,” said Rose, referring to the recycled water conversion.The decrease in the use of drinking water to irrigate the golf course offsets the city’s mandated reduction of water use by 10 percent, according to city Utilities Manager Raul Saenz. Residents and businesses following the water conservation ordinance are to make up the rest of the mandated decrease in water consumption.The MWD built the El Segundo recycling plant in 1992 and has about 70 miles of pipeline in place to distribute recycled water throughout the coastal Los Angeles area. In Manhattan Beach, pipeline runs mostly along Marine Avenue and Valley Drive, feeding recycled water into 34 different sites.Saenz said recycled water is used throughout the city at parks, such as Polliwog Park and Live Oak Park, at school fields, on some medians and along the greenbelt. The watering of these areas will not be affected by the ordinance, as recycled water does not fall under the same regulations as potable water.“The grass in these areas will remain green, though they will be watered less,” said Saenz. He also said the city will be posting signs where recycled water is used so the community is aware, and to hopefully avoid concerns that the city is violating its own potable water ordinance.Recycled water released from the El Segundo facility begins with wastewater reaching the sewage treatment Hyperion Plant where solids are removed. Tiny dirt-eating microorganisms are added and the water is filtered through layers of anthracite coal, sand and gravel. Then disinfectants such as chlorine are added to kill germs. The West Basin Municipal Water District Web site said the process makes the water ready for use in landscape irrigation and also stated that by expanding the use of recycled water, drinking water supplies are conserved.