Green Sport Facilities

Large Sport Facilities Around the World Report on their Water Reuse and Efficiency Projects

Few things are more essential to sports venues than water. Without it, green fields would turn brown, rinks would have no ice and pools would be empty. Showers, toilets and kitchens wouldn't function. The games simply could not go on.

So with drought conditionsgripping parts of the country, teams and stadium operators have increased their water conservation efforts to help their bottom lines and public images.

In many cases, teams have installed off-the-shelf products like low-flush toilets and sensor-activated faucets that can save millions of gallons of water during a season. They are also using technological solutions, like underground sensors that transmit data about fields' moisture levels via wireless networks to help venue managers decide when to turn sprinklers on or off.As communities deal with water shortages, stadium and arena operators from Arizona to Washington State are taking myriad conservation measures. But the variety of uses for water at sports venues means there is no single solution that can reduce consumption

Allen Hershkowitz, the director of theSports Projectat the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that range was not a bad thing because venue operators prefer to make smaller investments in their buildings rather than sweeping renovations.

"There is no one single bullet at any sports venue to address water conservation by itself," Mr. Hershkowitz said. "It is a series of smart but small adjustments. This allows people who run these venues to evaluate the cost and return on investment."

Unlike electricity, water use has not been consistently tracked in arenas and stadiums, partly because it has been heavily subsidized for decades. As a result, building operators have had less incentive to invest in water conservation.

But the cost of water-saving technology has fallen in recent years, and sports venue operators have embraced wider social and environmental mandates. In more drought-prone regions, utilities have also issued rebates to building operators that have conserved water.

Andy Gorchov, the general manager of the Stadium Management Company, which runs Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, where the Broncos play, said his company had received a rebate from Denver Water worth $60,000, or 40 percent of what it paid for a new irrigation control system. His company received $18,000 more in rebates for reducing water use.

"For a facility the size of the stadium, there are a lot of things you have to prioritize in terms of capital upgrades," Mr. Gorchov said.

Denver Water also paid for toilets that use about 20 percent less water per flush for the stadium's 144 luxury boxes. With the utility's financial help, Mr. Gorchov installed moisture sensors under the stadium's turf and more water meters around the 89-acre site to better track water use.

"It would irritate me when it would rain and the sprinklers would be going, too," he said.

Stadiums in California, where much of the state is experiencing severe drought, have even bigger challenges. At the San Francisco 49ers' new home in Santa Clara, which opened this summer, 85 percent of the water used is recycled water.

The Anschutz Entertainment Group, which runs dozens of venues around the world, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles, said it had already exceeded its goal of reducing water consumption per attendee by 20 percent by 2020.

The Staples Center, one of the busiest arenas in the world, conducted an energy audit and found that each of its 178 urinals used 44,000 gallons a year. By replacing them with waterless urinals, AEG said, it has saved more than seven million gallons a year and $28,200 annually.

The company has taken similar steps at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, Calif., where 516 toilets, urinals, faucets and shower heads were replaced, saving about one million gallons of water a year. At the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., recycled water is used to irrigate playing fields, while at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., reclaimed water is supplied to the cooling towers, saving about 115,000 gallons of potable water each week.

After games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the Jets and Giants play, cleanup crews pick up all the compostable or recyclable trash in the stands, which is about 90 percent of the garbage left behind. This leaves just 10 percent to be pressure-washed away.

Source: NY Times

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Taxonomy

• Water Reuse & Recycling
• Conservation