Volunteers Clean San Diego Creek of Trash
Plastic bags by the hundreds, cigarette butts by the thousands, soda cans and cups, fishing line, bottles and bottle caps, tennis balls and construction debris – all were pulled out of San Diego Creek during Inner-Coastal Watershed Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 25.
More than 175 volunteers braved triple-digit heat to comb the banks of San Diego Creek for trash outside the gates of IRWD’s Michelson Water Recycling Plant. After four hours, two trash bins were brimming over with all manner of trash and recyclables.
IRWD has hosted a cleanup site for the past 11 years. Inner-Coastal Watershed Cleanup Day held in conjunction with Coastal Cleanup Day, is in its 14th year. The goal is to clean garbage from creeks and streams before it reaches the shore. The IRWD site was one of 23 countywide.
The majority of IRWD’s volunteers were students from Northwood High School, whose environmental science teachers award extra credit for participation in the cleanup. Everyone fanned out within the span of a mile along the creek banks. It’s not unusual to find shopping carts in the creek, along with tires, construction barricades and vehicle parts. Some volunteers did find a shopping cart, but it was submerged so deep in muck they couldn’t dislodge it. One couple even found an unopened bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Another group found a mattress.
Dylan Thomas, 17, is a senior at Northwood High School who found a long board he braced next to the trash bin. After filling up one bag with trash, he was headed back out to pick up more.
“This is just a good thing to do,” he observed. “I would be here to help out whether or not I was getting credit.”
IRWD employee Scott Beltran participated with his children, Christian, 10, and Madison, eight. He has brought the children to the event since they were very young to teach them about environmental stewardship.
IRWD’s Water Tapping Team Places First
Four members of IRWD’s Construction and Repair Department took first place at the Orange County Water Association’s annual Water Tapping Contest. Nine teams from various water agencies and city water departments competed in the contest, held at Irvine Lake on September 15.
This award demonstrates that IRWD crews performing maintenance or repair tasks in the field are highly trained and work efficiently, assuring minimal interruptions in water service, while saving customers money.
The timed competition involves three team members who tap into a pressurized water pipe using specialized tools. Copper pipe is then connected and run to a faucet. When all connections are made, the faucet is turned on, replicating connection from a water main to a domestic water meter. Speed and precision are important. The fourth team member serves as the coach, who not only advises, but cheers the group on. At the end of the drill, the raw time is given, then judges score the teams based on adherence to contest rules, use of safety equipment and if there are any leaks present.
Teams competed in two rounds each. Immediately, IRWD’S team, the Turbo Tappers, was the one to beat, finishing in two minutes and two seconds with no penalties to detract from their score. In the second heat, the Turbo Tappers finished in two minutes and eight seconds.
The team was composed of captain Colt Martin, coach David Perez, Matt Daniel and Carlos Collazo. They were honored by the IRWD Board of Directors at the September 27 Board meeting. Next, the team will compete in the regional competition, the American Water Works Association Cal-Nevada contest, held next spring in Long Beach.
This was the second year of competition for the Turbo Tappers. Last year the team placed a respectable fourth in a field of 11.
For more information about the work the IRWD crews do on a daily basis, please visit www.irwd.com.
Visitor Access to IRWD San Joaquin Marsh Campus to Change
~ Riparian View Road To Be Closed For A Year ~
Beginning October 18, visitors to the San Joaquin Marsh Campus, which includes the Duck Club, Audubon House, IRWD Visitors’ Center and IRWD Learning Center will be detoured to a temporary entry off of Campus Drive due to construction activity in the area.
The Michelson Drive entry to Riparian View will be closed to through traffic and visitors to the Marsh will be diverted to the new entry off Campus Drive to accommodate construction of a new sewer line and a flood wall along San Diego Creek.
A previously unpaved portion of Riparian View near the entry to the marsh campus is being paved to provide this detour, which will be in effect for approximately a year. Signs will be posted with a map detailing the route to the new entrance. The Campus Drive entry will be right-turn-only.
Please visit www.irwd.com or call 949-453-5500 for information and updates on the construction.
Pedestrian Access Only to Marsh Through End of Week
Contractors constructing a wall around the San Joaquin Marsh Campus, which includes the Audubon House, Duck Club, Learning Center, Sea and Sage House and the Marsh House Visitors Center, have begun building a foundation for a gate that crosses the access road into the campus.
Access into the campus will be limited to pedestrians as there will be a trench dug across the entry to build the new foundation. This condition will exist for a few days.
Landscape Open House a Success
More than 300 people, including many IRWD residential customers, attended a landscape open house event at the South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. IRWD and the University of California Cooperative Extension hosted the open house on October 2 in an ongoing effort to help our customers be always water smart.
Visitors were able to meet with gardening industry experts, attend landscaping presentations, tour the UC Extension demonstration landscapes, sample unusual fruit, participate in a planting activity for the kids, and have a garden tool sharpened for free. Twenty exhibitors had interactive displays where customers could learn about California Friendly plants and lawn alternatives, mulch and composting materials and high efficiency irrigation products. The UC Extension landscapes demonstrated to the visitors that they could have colorful and beautiful gardens using native and drought-tolerant plants, while saving money on the their water bills and improving the quality of the watershed with reduced runoff from irrigation.
For helpful landscaping, conservation, and use-efficiency tools and tips please visit www.alwayswatersmart.com.
