Longmont sometimes waters city properties during daytime hours, staff acknowledges

May 6—Longmont encourages the city's residents to avoid watering their lawns, gardens and landscaping during the sunny warm-weather hours of the day to reduce the amount of water used and to avoid water loss from evaporation.

However, city staff acknowledged during this week's City Council study session that the city's own irrigation systems can sometimes be seen operating during the daytime in parks, on greenways and in rights of way.

Councilman Tim Waters raised the issue during a Tuesday night Council and staff review of Longmont's water supply and drought management plans and policies.

Waters said he'd received a text from a constituent earlier that day who reported that she'd observed the city watering a property during the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. — the hours when the city recommends against residents' outdoor watering — and who wondered how often she could see that happening.

Deputy City Manager Dale Rademacher said residents may witness some city watering activities this time of year, when Longmont is bringing its irrigation systems back online during daytime working hours when the staff is available to identify and respond to any problems with those systems.

Longmont has been investing in irrigation technology that's intended to hold off on the systems' irrigating of city properties until after 6 p.m. and before 10 a.m., Rademacher said, the same water conservation practice the city recommends but does not mandate for residents to follow.

He said the city irrigation systems sometimes fail, and "we end up watering the streets and not the parks."

However, "I would invite residents to be our eyes and ears" and to report to the city when people have questions or see a city-owned property being watered during the day, Rademacher said.

He said the staff will check out those reports and take whatever action might be needed if it does stem from a system problem.

"We welcome those calls, and we will try to do the best that we can" to respond, Rademachrer said.

Councilwoman Susie Hidalgo-Fahring asked about the most effective way for residents to contact the city with such questions or concerns.

Rademacher told Council on Tuesday night and the Public Works and Natural Resources Department staff said in a Wednesday email that residents can contact the city's Call Center at 303-651-8416 or send an email to Serviceworks@longmontcolorado.gov.

In an email from Public Works and Natural Resources spokesperson Teresa Myers, the department's staff said the city "no-irrigation policy" for generally limiting watering on Longmont properties "applies to all city-owned properties, including golf courses, parks, landscaping, rights of way and trails. The City also strives to complete irrigation within an even narrower window of 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., except in those situations where the systems don't have the capacity to complete the irrigation within that narrower time frame.

"The larger irrigation systems require a longer watering window due to the size of the parks and the large number of irrigation zones, such as our four community parks: Clark Centennial, Dry Creek, Garden Acres and Sandstone Ranch, which water after 5 a.m. but are done before 10 a.m.," staff said.

Staff said parks operation supervisors will allow for watering outside the normal watering window after the installation of new turf seed or sod, trees and shrubs, when daytime watering is required for establishment of the vegetation. It may occur during periodic irrigation zone inspections for system failures and repairs. And it may happen when vegetation is being rehabilitated and a system problem prevented the scheduled irrigation from occurring.

When city property is being watered, staff said, "many times sprinklers are running for testing purposes after systems have been repaired."

Another reason the city may engage in daytime watering is that some parks and greenways are irrigated with raw, untreated water from irrigation ditches that run 24 hours a day. Not being able to access the ditch water in the 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. time period would forego the use of that water because the water would simply continue downstream, staff said.

Staff also said many areas, such as along roadways in industrial and commercial areas, are irrigated by the property owners private irrigation systems. Staff noted that some areas might appear to be public city parks but are actually owned by homeowners associations, with the HOAs controlling the irrigation in those areas.

Staff said Longmont's outdoor-watering hours-of-the-day restrictions that generally apply to city-owned properties do not also apply to St. Vrain Valley School District properties such as sports fields, "although the district is a good conservation partner and tries to limit irrigating between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. when possible."

As for Longmont's outdoor watering advice for residents and businesses, water conservation tips are available on a city web site at tinyurl.com/3zha2jb9.