How Much Water it takes to Maintain the Padres Playing Field
San Diego's facing a water crisis. Residents are being forced to conserve, watering on given days depending on their address.
But what about entertainment venues?
Just take a look at the Padres playing field at Petco Park; it's where the magic happens.
"Right now we're watering about 3 days a week," says Luke Yoder, the Director of Field and Landscape Maintenance for the Padres.
Yoder's in charge of keeping the field green and lush, but of course maintaining a major league field takes a lot of water.
In 2008, they used about 15 million gallons of water. But consider this: Every time a toilet is flushed at the park, it's between a gallon and a gallon and a half of water down the drain.
Yoder says they've barely had to make any irrigation changes, now that San Diego's enforcing strict watering rules.
He says they practice the city's protocol, watering just 3 days a week, between 6pm and 10am.
"It's much better to water when it's cool, at night, because there's a lot less evaporation and you maximize your water use," he says.
There are 81 sprinkler heads on the field. Each one is placed about a half inch below the turf so the platers don't even know they're there.
Yoder says they water based on the weather, and each sprinkler runs 30 minutes tops.
Some areas of the field don't even need water at all. Take the waring track, for example, it has a wax coating that saves them gallons.
Plus most of the landscaping is on a drip system, and Petco's lined with drought-tolerant plants like aloe.
Yoder says the key to a healthy field is conservation. Less is sometimes more.
"If you were to water every day and over water, what happens is your roots don't dive down to that moisture."
Just take a look at the Padres playing field at Petco Park; it's where the magic happens.
"Right now we're watering about 3 days a week," says Luke Yoder, the Director of Field and Landscape Maintenance for the Padres.
Yoder's in charge of keeping the field green and lush, but of course maintaining a major league field takes a lot of water.
In 2008, they used about 15 million gallons of water. But consider this: Every time a toilet is flushed at the park, it's between a gallon and a gallon and a half of water down the drain.
Yoder says they've barely had to make any irrigation changes, now that San Diego's enforcing strict watering rules.
He says they practice the city's protocol, watering just 3 days a week, between 6pm and 10am.
"It's much better to water when it's cool, at night, because there's a lot less evaporation and you maximize your water use," he says.
There are 81 sprinkler heads on the field. Each one is placed about a half inch below the turf so the platers don't even know they're there.
Yoder says they water based on the weather, and each sprinkler runs 30 minutes tops.
Some areas of the field don't even need water at all. Take the waring track, for example, it has a wax coating that saves them gallons.
Plus most of the landscaping is on a drip system, and Petco's lined with drought-tolerant plants like aloe.
Yoder says the key to a healthy field is conservation. Less is sometimes more.
"If you were to water every day and over water, what happens is your roots don't dive down to that moisture."
