You Ask: Sprinklers on Overdrive at the Ohlone Greenway?

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The rainy season may be behind us, and the allergy season may be in full bloom, but at least one waterlogged issue persists under the BART tracks along the .

Paula Worby, who lives on Masonic Avenue across from the greenway, asked, “Why do the sprinklers watering the grass under the BART tracks turn on right after and even during heavy rains? I noticed this several times during the last few months of rain. (Late December 2010 is around when I last observed it.) It seems like it would be easy enough for whichever department that controls this to turn off the sprinkler system during the rainy season.”

We sought out for a response to Worby’s query.

“You see this happening all the time,” Cunningham said. “The direct answer is that it can happen because the controllers for the sprinklers malfunction and the timers get mis-set."

The result is that sprinklers sometimes operate even while it rains, which can run up the city’s water tab.

Cunningham said the city plans to overhaul the entire irrigation system, replacing it with a modern, high-tech system that will be able to, among other things, monitor the rainy weather and adjust sprinklers accordingly.  

However, he said, work won’t start until BART embarks on its , including strengthening the pillars, along the Ohlone Greenway. Cunningham said the transit agency is “at least a year behind schedule.” 

Cunningham estimated that BART could begin the seismic project as soon as July or August, but he also cautioned that the transit agency may do the retrofit work first in another city along the Richmond line. He said BART has 3 1/2 years to complete the project—so it may be up to four years before the new sprinkler system is installed in Albany.

“We’re not going to do anything until BART is finished,” he said. “It makes no sense to invest in it. "

Cunningham said the city is waiting for BART because “all the heavy equipment will around the sprinkler system.” He said some greenway sprinklers date back “a decade or two—they’re old.”

In addition, he said, the city plans to improve the bike path along the greenway by widening it and striping it. But that improvement is also on hold “until BART comes in, tears it (Ohlone Greenway) up and moves out,” he said.

Albany is also thinking green about future water use. Cunningham said the city is in negotiations with EBMUD to use reclaimed water “as far east as Masonic.”

In any event, the single issue of replacing the irrigation system along the greenway is part of a “giant spider web,” Cunningham said.

“A lot of work is being coordinated,” he said.

Have you noticed anything off about the sprinklers along the Ohlone Greenway? Tell us in the comments below.

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, give editor Emilie Raguso a call at 510-459-8325 or shoot her an e-mail at emilier@patch.com.