Because reclaimed water cannot be used for drinking, it must be used to water greenery.
Most of the city’s large green spaces are concentrated in parks, schools, movie studios in the Media District and Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
Although school sites, which include the district’s campuses, Woodbury University and private schools, are not major customers, they do use a significant amount of water for landscaping, Elsner said.
The budget for the citywide reclamation project does not cover costs to the district likely to be incurred if crews hook up their current plumbing systems with the new pipes carrying recycled water.
“From our end, eventually, there would be [an extra cost],” said Chuck Colgan, district facilities compliance manager. “The board would probably want to make a decision at some point in time because there would be some financial costs associated on the district’s side at some point.”
Board President Debbie Kukta said there were no plans for a vote in the near future on connecting pipes and spending money, as the board had not been notified of any deadlines for complying with the city’s plan.
Costs could also include new signs alerting people on campus to the use of reclaimed water and new piping to isolate drinking fountains on fields from the reclaimed water, Colgan said.
Burbank Water and Power plans to pay for the project through bonds or a combination of state grants and low-interest loans.
Bonds or loans would be repaid with the revenue generated by recycled-water sales, according to the city’s master plan.
Robert E. Gross Park, McCambridge Park, DeBell Golf Course and the city’s landfill are some of the areas already using reclaimed water.
Burbank High School and John Muir Middle School have used reclaimed water on their campuses since the city began working on its initial reclaimed water use in 1992.
The recycled-water master plan proposes the new piping be laid in phases over a three- year period beginning next year.
With schools spread out all over the city and major potential users of recycled water first in line for connections next year, the school district probably won’t face new costs until a couple of years down the line, Elsner said, and probably not all at once.
