Kudos to West Bay Sanitary and Sharon Heights Golf Course for figuring this out. Concerns about diverting potable water were first brought to the Environmental Quality Commission and City Council by a number of residents. This is an example of Council being responsive to reasonable concerns from citizens and this Commission. I am aware that one or more Council members spent a good deal of time exploring this option.

While the EQC was sensitive to the needs of the golf course members, there was a good deal of concern expressed, particularly during times of drought, in using potable water for grass, as Mr. Scott indicates. This is is a terrific solution and hopefully will pave the way for use of non-potable water wherever feasible to preserve our increasingly scarce potable water.

@Mitch,

As a Board Director of the West Bay Sanitary District we appreciate the kudos.

WRT to council members working on this.....not so much. This project has been driven by WBSD and SHCC with LITTLE to no input (much less help) from Menlo Park.

We look forward to completing the project and demonstrating that water conservation can happen and bring additional projects forward.

Thanks
Roy Thiele-Sardiña

For Kate or Roy: Help us to understand why it is beneficial for Menlo Park generally for the private golf club to the sole (currently) beneficiary of this capability? Maybe its obvious but I am not familiar enough with water economics.

Thanks

Seems like a no brainer that this project will reduce the load on the sewer system and hence the service cost to all the residents of the WBSD.

A true win-win.

Thanks WBSD.

@Cmon

First of all you should know that while Menlo Park met the water reduction requirement during the drought. the MAJORITY of that savings came from Sharon Heights CC and Burgess Park.. The residents saved almost NO water during the drought.

SHCC understands that if there were another drought, they might be cut off completely from Hetch Hetchy water and therefore are wiling to INVEST to make sure they have an adequate supply of water. FWIW the current cost of wholesale water is WAY below the cost of the water that will come out of the recycling plant. However, in the future the cost of water from the San Francisco PUC (Menlo Park supplier) could rise dramatically.

SHCC is being a great friend to the citizens of Menlo Park by paying for this Recycled Water System......please thank them for their generosity when you run into a member of the club.