FRESNO (KMJ) — A Fresno resident wants to know why the school near his home has been breaking the City of Fresno’s water conservation rules.
Mike Middleton lives close to Powers-Ginsberg Elementary School in Central Fresno.
“I was told that they’re supposed to water to the same rules as us homeowners, that’s once a week now in the winter, and I know they’re watering three times a week.
“They also water immediately after it rains which is against the rules.”
The winter rules as they currently stand within the City of Fresno is that odd-numbered addresses can water on Saturdays, and even-numbered addresses can water on Sundays.
Adding to that an executive order signed by Governor Jerry Brown on May 9th 2016 (click here to view), which states that it is prohibited to water “within 48 hours of measurable precipitation”. The City of Fresno considers that to be 0.01 inches as measured by NOAA at Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
“They need to pay attention,” says Middleton. “Their excuse every time is that they’re understaffed, not enough manpower to come out for repairs.”
He says it upsetting to see Powers Ginsberg Elementary ignoring the rules everyone should be sticking to.
“It probably takes two hours plus for that whole system to run, for the whole school ground.”
In response, Fresno Unified School District state that they are looking into it to find out what happened.
“In the District’s effort to conserve water, we have invested in moisture detectors at many of our school sites as part of our irrigation systems,” writes Fresno Unified’s Amy Idsvoog in a statement to KMJ News.
“With school not in session this week, we’re not sure why sprinklers went off but maintenance is investigating.”
It comes after results from the State Water Resources Control Board which show conservation efforts in Merced, Madera, Fresno, and Visalia are all down when comparing numbers from November 2016 to November 2015.
The City of Fresno state that they are focusing on a “fix not fine” effort. Officials ask those who see someone not sticking to the rules to report it: either by phone on (559) 621-5480 or emailing them on waterconservation@fresno.gov.
Residents can also use the FresGo app to file a ‘New Request’, select ‘Water Issues’, and then ‘Water Conservation’.
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
