"Using Recycled Water" signs

[Quillz]

I don't know if these are common outside of California, but I often see them in the median of freeways.

It seems to me unnecessary information for a driver. There are so many signs on the freeway as it is, what is the purpose of letting me know that recycled water is being used for some purpose within the median?

[SignGeek101]

Never seen the sign before. What is the recycled water used for? I could see a VMS or something to that effect telling people to be more efficient with water usage especially during a drought (which California had / still has?).

[Quillz]

Never seen the sign before. What is the recycled water used for? I could see a VMS or something to that effect telling people to be more efficient with water usage especially during a drought (which California had / still has?).

They literally just say "using recycled water."



They are often in the median of freeways. There's no faucet, spigot, or anything near by that would even be producing water in the first place. It's just... info for those who care.

[briantroutman]

Sprinklers are sometimes mounted within the ground–basically invisible when not in use–and pop up when the water is turned on.

I think the reasoning behind the signage is twofold. One motivation is to prevent angry calls to the state DOT, to the city, county, etc.:
Why are you wasting water on freeway shrubs in a drought when I'm not allowed to wash my Mercedes...

The other is to discourage someone who might be walking nearby from leaning down to the sprinkler head and taking a gulp of water that isn't drinkable. If you look below the USING RECYCLED WATER sign, there's a smaller purple sign that probably says something along the lines of: AGUA NO POTABLE - NO BEBER - DO NOT DRINK

[Quillz]

Sprinklers are sometimes mounted within the ground–basically invisible when not in use–and pop up when the water is turned on.

I think the reasoning behind the signage is twofold. One is to try to prevent angry calls to the state DOT, to the city, county, etc.:
Why are you wasting water on freeway shrubs in a drought when I'm not allowed to wash my Mercedes...

The other is to avoid someone who might be walking nearby from leaning down to the sprinkler head and taking a gulp of water that isn't drinkable. If you look below the USING RECYCLED WATER sign, there's a smaller purple sign that probably says something along the lines of: AGUA NO POTABLE - NO BEBER - DO NOT DRINK

In that specific sign, yes. But most of the time, there are no other signs mounted on the post beyond that "using recycled water." Although you're probably right about the sprinklers. Although it seems unlikely someone would end up in the median of a freeway and try to drink water from a sprinkler.

[hbelkins]

Recycled water or not, why waste time and equipment watering the grass in the median?



But come to think of it, all water is recycled -- from what evaporates from the surface to falling again as precipitation, or a city treating stream water downstream from a sewage plant that discharges into that stream.

When I worked in Estill County, Ky., and Lexington had a water shortage in 1988 due to the local treatment plant's inability to keep up with demand (there was plenty of water in the Kentucky River), our local county judge-executive used to say, "Don't forget to flush often, Lexington needs the water."

[cpzilliacus]

Recycled water or not, why waste time and equipment watering the grass in the median?

I cannot speak to the medians (most urban freeways in California have a Jersey barrier in the median and nothing else), but many Southern California freeways that I have driven have fairly steep slopes outside the shoulders, so planting something green there (and keeping it green and alive) helps to deter (but not always prevent) mudslides that tend to happen in some areas of the Golden State during the winter rainy season.

There was an especially bad mudslide the other day on I-80 at Donner Lake crossing the Sierras near Truckee (this slide would not have been prevented by watering grass along the freeway - 8 or more inches (!) of rainfall in one event).  According to the report above Caltrans is expecting that the next incoming storm could bring 80 inches of snow (I think I prefer that much moisture as rain, but snow is usually what they get there at the higher elevations of the Sierras in winter).

[Brandon]

I don't know if these are common outside of California, but I often see them in the median of freeways.

It seems to me unnecessary information for a driver. There are so many signs on the freeway as it is, what is the purpose of letting me know that recycled water is being used for some purpose within the median?

We don't have them here, but I've never seen sprinklers on a freeway median in the Midwest either.  usually we just rely on rain, and if that doesn't happen, the median goes dormant (brown).

[Aerobird]

I'm pretty sure I've seen "reclaimed water" useage signs on Florida highways.

(Also, if you see water pipes, manhole covers, or other fixtures that are a rather dramatic shade of purple, that indicates that reclaimed water is pumped through them.)

[jeffandnicole]

Most likely it's politically motivated. Any sign that doesn't seem necessary probably has its roots with some pol wanting it.

[UCFKnights]

The other is to discourage someone who might be walking nearby from leaning down to the sprinkler head and taking a gulp of water that isn't drinkable. If you look below the USING RECYCLED WATER sign, there's a smaller purple sign that probably says something along the lines of: AGUA NO POTABLE - NO BEBER - DO NOT DRINK

Even with the purple pipe and irrigation heads that all say the warning you posted on them, a lot of people still drink out of them. Florida requires them wherever reclaimed water is used as well... the people at my utility claim its better for the environment for the reclaimed water to get used on landscape and spread over larger quantities of land as then the water gets filtered by more of the earth versus dumping it into wetlands like they do with all of the excess treated wastewater they produce.