There are many factors that go into the functionality of PRHS as a whole. One important aspect that many students don’t consider is water. Water is very precious, especially in California where there are consistent droughts. So how much water is used on campus? PRHS uses roughly 59,000- 60,000 gallons of domestic water monthly. The bill averages between $4,900 - $5,500 dollars a month.
According to the PRHS groundskeeper Ryan Jones, the softball field and grass lawns on-campus use the most water on average for irrigation, “Grass lawns and fields use an inch a square foot of water over the summer. The softball field uses about 38,000 gallons of water at runtime,” Jones said. Most of the PRHS campus used to be grass, and in an ongoing process over the past 20 years, 50% of the lawns have been removed to conserve water. The practice field for football and soccer on campus was changed to turf four years ago, and while they still water the turf field once a week in the summer to keep the static electricity down, it is saving the school millions of gallons of water a year. I Turf is more practical than a regular field because it’s not as saturated so it can still be used when it’s wet. Custodians use a limited amount of water for the trees on campus, but choose not to get rid of them. Jones stated, “Trees are invaluable as far as aesthetics and use of facilities, they help reduce evaporation and provide shade for everyone to use.”
Throughout the years the school has been trying to conserve as much water as possible. As s the PRJUSD Transportation and Operations manager, Kelly Stainbrook, stated, “California will always be in a drought and we want to play our part.” They have a system in place that monitors how much water is used for irrigation and what the moisture level is of the grass so they only use what’s needed. With 13 field sites at PRHS, even a 1% difference in the moisture of the grass means the difference between hundreds of thousands of gallons of water throughout a year. According to Stainbrook the second highest usage of water on campus is for lavatories and water bottle stations. Eight years ago PRHS changed all of their facilities to energy-saving appliances for low usage of water. The move has caused a 40% water usage drop on campus in these areas. “I think it’s important for students to know what’s going on here in the backside of things so they appreciate their school,” Stainbrook said.