Published: Jul 21, 2015 | 09:00 AM

Does Seeing Green Make You See Red?

During this time of drought, we are advising our customers that “brown is the new green.” So when you are driving down the street and you see a big green lawn on public property, or a greenbelt or park, more than likely those areas are irrigated with recycled water.

Irvine Ranch Water District pioneered the use of purple pipe to designate that recycled water is in use. So if you have any doubts, look for signs advising “This area irrigated using recycled water.” Or, you can look at the tops of sprinklers heads or the meter boxes – if they are purple, recycled water is in use.

In the IRWD service area, recycled water is primarily used for irrigation of public areas, agricultural crops, toilet flushing in commercial buildings, in air conditioning cooling towers in high-rise buildings and for mixing concrete. Landscape irrigation includes schools, ballfields, golf courses, parks, and greenbelts.

Recycled water is an important part of the IRWD water portfolio, because it stretches our water supply further. For every gallon of recycled water used, that’s a gallon of drinking water saved for customer use. The state water reduction mandate does not apply to the use of recycled water.

For more information on IRWD’s recycled water program, please visit our website.