Can someone fix these watering practices along the bike path?
| Wednesday, Aug 11 2010 12:13 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Aug 11 2010 12:13 PM
Q: I am a bicycle commuter and get on the bike path at Allen Road and go to Manor Monday through Friday. I get on the path right around 5:15 each morning and the grass areas from Allen Road to Calloway Drive including River Walk Park all seem to have the sprinklers in various areas going at this time. They shoot onto the bike path, making it wet and sandy and waste a lot of water.
First, why wouldn't this get watered starting around midnight so these areas could be used by people exercising or walking dogs, etc., and who is responsible for checking these sprinklers so they don't keep watering the path instead of the grass?
-- Kevin Ormonde
A: Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Director Dianne Hoover answered:
After receiving this request, city crews tested all the sprinklers and made a few adjustments to the watering times as well as the direction of the sprinklers.
In that area, there are several hundred sprinkler heads, and the Water Department would notice a dramatic drop in water pressure to surrounding homes and businesses when the watering cycle would begin at 10 p.m. Since those initial months of learning and re-adjusting watering times, the city now spreads out the watering of The Park at River Walk, River Oaks Park and the Kern River Parkway to encompass the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Adjacent property owners have not complained about water pressure issues since we made those adjustments.
