Precious Water

In the desert, water is the equivalent of gold: rare, and therefore precious. Last winter, I posted many times with much joy about the rainfall and the refilling of the dams throughout the state, with the hope that our ten year drought was finished. Alas, unless La Nina goes into hibernation very soon, our dry weather - 116 days and counting - will continue and the drought will continue. This makes me all the more thankful for the wet winter last year. I had a short conversation with a neighbor recently about the reclaimed water we use in Morrison Ranch, and so, too, did Bias For Action. He sent me his response to this neighbor, and I thought I would pass it on as a good reminder:

How clean is the water we’re using at Morrison Ranch?”

All of the common areas within Morrison Ranch utilize the same water. The turf, trees, and shrubs within all of the parks, active open spaces, landscape tracts in front of houses (between streets and sidewalks) use this water. So whether it is a small sprinkler head, large nozzles, or bubblers it is all the same water.

Morrison Ranch receives this water directly from the Town of Gilbert’s water treatment plants. The Town is required by the State to treat the water to a certain level and then they choose to take it to further to make it just one step away from being drinkable. They call the end product “tertiary” treated water. The quality report from the Town refers to its quality standard as A+ which means it is filtered for clarity, de-nitrified to below 8mg/l, and chlorinated to remove all virus and bacteria present. They claim it to be the highest class of reclaimed effluent. The only restriction the State place on this water is that this water shouldn’t be used for full body contact (shouldn’t swim in it) and it shouldn’t be used for drinking purposes. That is why they require our community (as well as other parks and schools) to have posted signs to that effect. If you have further questions about the water the Town delivers you can call Patricia L. Jordan, Field Supervisor Effluent Reuse, Town of Gilbert, 480-503-6439.

The water we receive is the very same water as is delivered and used at Town parks like Freestone (over 25 years now!), Cotton Wood Crossing, McQueen Park and is also delivered to the school district to be used on the major athletic fields like football and soccer. Throughout the year when it treats more water than it has users the Town recharges the water at places like the Neely Aviary and Southwest Regional Library ponds.

Once Morrison Ranch receives the water, it is stored for delivery into our Town Center Lake and also very soon our second lake being constructed at Highland Groves. These lakes are maintained for water quality by a professional maintenance company. The one we use has been in the business for decades and maintains many of the golf courses in the valley, as well. We follow their recommendations for water quality which includes a balanced environment in the lake (that is why we have a multiple fish varieties in the lake). Our pump station is state of the art when it comes to being able to inject the right amount of chemicals and fertilizers to maintain both the quality of the water and deliver the appropriate nutritional components and ph levels for the turf and trees. Testing is conducted regularly to verify the water quality.

We go to great lengths to maintain water quality and that isn’t just a philosophical or feel good statement. It is also a very practical and monetary one. We are highly motivated to keep the water quality right. The consequences to not do so would be dire. You have probably heard of algae bloom that occurs in natural lakes and in municipal reservoirs under certain conditions. We do all we can to prevent that from happening because the cost of eliminating it in the lake is very expensive. If the water quality drops the entire system starts having problems all the way down to the sprinkler head. You can imagine the expense we would all incur if we had to start replacing sprinkler heads, valves, and main lines because of poor water quality. It isn’t worth it. It is much more cost effective to prevent those headaches by maintaining water quality.

If you want pictures along with the explanation, you can check out the Morrison Ranch website here.