Our Recycled Water
Recycled water is used at Windsor High School
for irrigation and toilet flushing.
The Town of Windsor is already a leader among communities nationwide in the use of recycled water for the irrigation of agricultural lands, recreational facilities, schools and residential front and back yards, which saves millions of gallons a year of precious fresh water for drinking and other human uses. In addition to the Town Green, Wilson Ranch Soccer Park and the Windsor Golf Course, here are some other places where recycled water irrigation is being used successfully:
Irrigating Front and Back Yards with Recycled Water
The
single-family homes in
Windsor’s
Vintage Greens subdivision are some of the first in Northern
California to use recycled water to irrigate their front and back
yards. The Vintage Greens housing community is sustainable, using
the same amount of recycled water that each home contributes to the
system. The Town of Windsor provides free purple irrigation pipe and
other irrigation fittings to make it easy for a new homeowner to
participate in this significant water saving effort.
Recycled Water Use at Windsor High School
Windsor High School is
an exceptional example of excellence in water and resource
management. About 40 acres of high school property are irrigated
with highly treated disinfected recycled water, which also is used
to flush the toilets in the 6-year-old school. This has resulted in
a savings of about 1.4 million gallons of fresh water annually.
The use of recycled water along with other “green” practices helped the school and town share in the state's highest environmental honor for 2006, one of only 14 given out this year by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Town's government and school district were singled out in the "sustainable community" category for pooling financial resources to help the environment and educate students to be good stewards of the environment.
Irrigating Crops and Storing Recycled Water at Santa Rosa Junior
College’s Shone Farm
The Town of Windsor’s recycled water is
available for and used to irrigate pasture land at
Santa Rosa Junior College’s Shone Farm, which is located on the
eastern outskirts of Windsor. The farm is a 365-acre diversified
college facility that is a hands-on, outdoor field laboratory and
learning environment. Shone Farm will also be the site of a joint
storage project between the SRJC and the Town of Windsor storing
approximately 40 MG of recycled water.
Windsor’s Recycled Water Quality
Windsor treats its wastewater to
tertiary recycled water standards (also referred to as advanced
water treatment) which is the highest level of treatment defined by
the State; this level of treatment allows for unrestricted reuse in
virtually all reclaimed water applications. The Town’s recycled
water is monitored and tested daily to ensure that it consistently
meets these high quality standards.
For more information on Windsor’s recycled water quality, please visit Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation System Facilities and see the Town’s annual water quality comparison report (pdf).
Water Conservation
The Town is dedicated to an informative and
aggressive water conservation program. The Town of Windsor continues
to be a leader in promoting water conservation through its Every
Drop Counts programs. These programs include use of recycled water
for irrigation, rebates for low water-use clothes washers, free
water-saving plumbing fixtures, local school information outreach, a
free Water Wise Gardening CD featuring low water-use plants, free
home and commercial water use evaluations (audits), and
informational inserts in Utility bills. Visit
Water
Conservation or telephone 707-838-5357 for more information on
the Windsor Water Wise programs and how you can participate in and
benefit from them.