By Delle Willett

Working to make Balboa Park more sustainable

Since 1999, the Friends of Balboa Park have dedicated their time, talents and money to Balboa Park, initiating park-wide projects that transcend individual institutions and address human-scale needs.

Their newest focus is making Balboa Park more sustainable by reclaiming water from building rooftops and providing water-wise irrigation to gardens adjacent to those buildings.

The first building to implement the Smartscape approach is Casa de Balboa, which houses the San Diego History Center, the Railway Museum, and the Museum of Photographic Arts.

The captured water will be used to irrigate the newly created Zoro Canyon, an area of approximately 15,800 square feet, just south of the historic Zoro Garden, between Casa de Balboa and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

On a section of Casa de Balboa’s slightly slanted, 60,000-square-foot roof; rain water, morning dew and the condensation from the HVAC systems will be captured at approximately 45,000 gallons a month, as estimated by engineering experts from San Diego State.

Assisted by gravity, the water will run into a series of drains, travel down a drainpipe and be stored in a huge, well-disguised tank tucked into a corner of the building.

“We are lucky because we are up high and most of the irrigation will happen from 10 to 40 feet below where the water is stored, so we can do all of the watering with gravity rather than having to pressurize the flow and pump the irrigation,” said Jim Hughes, project manager of the Friends of Balboa Park.

The Friends hope to have the “Zoro Garden/Canyon Smartscape Project” in place by the end of 2015.

The water-capture phase of the project will cost between $75,000 to $100,000 with most of that covering a re-plumbing of the building, manufacturing the water-storage unit, installation of drip irrigation and Smartscape planting.

While Friends of Balboa Park has friended the Park, over the years many others have friended Friends of Balboa Park.

Many of those showed up to prep the garden for the first of several planting phases, lending their professional expertise to the project, including landscape architects and contractors, engineers, horticulturists, educators, facilities managers and staff from the Park and Recreation Department.

To date, 150–200 volunteers have worked in the garden and another 20-some volunteers are working on some dimension of the planning associated with the project.

San Diego Parks and Recreation has provided labor, tools and equipment, and expertise throughout the process. Tree-trimming professionals were hired and paid by Friends of Balboa Park.

Utilizing a Smartscape approach, workers cut back the giant fig trees and also stripped additional trees and plants from the garden and the adjacent canyon. Drought-tolerant native plants and approximately 15 trees have been planted to date, with more trees, plants and bushes to be added in the second phase.

Volunteers also helped install a controlled drip-irrigation system under the guidance of representatives from Hunter Industries, which donated over 100 rotator spray head sprinklers, along with their expertise. Friends of Balboa Park donated all other irrigation materials.

A planting plan for trees and bushes is currently being developed, which will determine the quantity of water needed for collection and irrigation. If calculations are off and more water is needed after collection, the system will have a water connection to make up for any periodic shortage.

Garden visitors will be able to see the water in the holding tank, read interpretive signs that explain how the system works in the Park, and get ideas on how they can recreate a system like this in their own gardens.

Estimated to be a two-year project through December 2015, the major donors to the Zoro Garden and Canyon project are SDG&E, ($10,000) and the San Diego Women’s Foundation (SDWF), ($40,000). SDG&E’s donation will cover the cost of engineering. Other partners include: Balboa Park, SDSU, Dottie Laub, Louise Hay, Favrot Family Trust and the Beyster Family Trust. SDWF officials hope the project can extend its reach to spread the water-wise message.

Other buildings in Balboa Park that could also be retrofitted to reclaim water are the Hall of Champions and the Timken Museum, both of which have relatively flat, large roofs with a garden or two nearby where diverted water could be utilized.

The Friends of Balboa Park was born out of the same commitment to civic-minded philanthropy that motivated San Diego’s leaders in the early part of the last century.

The Friends’ vision is measured in acres and decades, manifested in activities that honor Balboa Park’s celebrated past, enhance its current place in the life of San Diego, improve access and lay the groundwork for a secure future.

For more information about the Friends of Balboa Park visit friendsofbalboapark.org.

—Delle Willett has been a marketing and public relations professional for over 30 years, with an emphasis on conservation of the environment. She can be reached at [email protected].