Drought doesn’t make everyone a stick in the mud

The drought isn’t drying up all the fun to be had in mud, but organizers of events say they’re trying to be more responsible with the water used.

Saturday will bring the second annual Muddy With a Mission mud volleyball tournament in Turlock, a fundraiser for three local nonprofit ministries: Prodigal Sons & Daughters, Turlock Pregnancy Center and Turlock Gospel Mission.

The courts are on unplanted agricultural land off Auto Mall Drive, and organizers have gained some water wisdom since last year’s event, said Gena Larson, executive director of the pregnancy center.

Last year, showers were created using PVC pipe but were over asphalt, so runoff went into the sewer system, Larson said. This year, the showers will be moved to plywood laid over dirt so the runoff goes back into the soil.

As for the mud volleyball, four courts have been dug but only three likely will be used, based on the anticipated 16 to 20 teams, Larson said. There also will be a small mud pit for kids to play in.

Because the courts are on farmland, the water will leach back into the water table, she said.

“You plan these things for a while, and we’ve had discussions based on what we learned last year,” Larson said. She said organizers are “exercising the utmost care” to use the water as efficiently as possible. Pits will be watered minimally, and a water truck will be kept on site in case they need replenishing.

Another change is the water source. Last year, organizers bought about 15,000 gallons of city water, which came from a fire hydrant and was delivered to the volleyball courts by a firetruck.

But hydrant water is potable, or drinkable, and mud volleyball does not fit the city’s criteria of “highest and best use” for it, said Maryn Pitt, assistant to Turlock City Manager Roy Wasden.

“The water the city of Turlock proposes to supply to the Muddy with a Mission event is nonpotable groundwater from one of the city’s shallow wells; it is not ‘recycled’ water from the Wastewater Treatment Facility,” Turlock Municipal Services Director Michael Cooke told The Bee in an email Wednesday afternoon. “This is an important distinction. Recycled water is treated wastewater, which is OK to use for body contact recreation, but it is not the source of water for this event.”

An earlier comment from the city had indicated recycled water likely would be supplied.

Pitt was confident the city would meet the event’s water needs.

“We’re just still trying to figure out how to make it happen,” she said Tuesday, adding that “government turns like a ship ... (but) I’m sure we’ll work it out with them.”

Larson said that “the amount of water we use is so minimal compared to some of those huge events with thousands of participants. That’s something you have to think about.”

One of those big events is the World Famous Mud Run at the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, which has its second consecutive weekend of races on Saturday and Sunday.

Open to civilians and military personnel, the event benefits programs for Camp Pendleton personnel and families and attracts about 16,000 adults for the 5K and 10K obstacle courses.

The website for the World Famous Mud Run touts it as “drought-conscious!” and adds, “Dr. Bronner’s New Magic Soap Shower Experience saves over 87 percent of water usage. Water is recycled back to Camp Pendleton’s aquifers. Thank you for helping the Corps conserve water!”

Another California community, Hemet in Riverside County, canceled its May 16 Jurassic Classic Mud Run, a fundraiser for Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District. It was canceled as part of the agency’s effort to meet the state’s mandate to reduce water usage by 25 percent.

Dean Wetter, general manager of Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District, told the (Riverside) Press-Enterprise that his agency wanted to take a leadership role in conserving water, canceling the mud run until supplies improve.

Wetter said the park district refunded about $8,000 in entry fees to more than 200 runners who preregistered. More competitors would have signed up by the race date.

After news spread that the Jurassic Classic was called off, the Press-Enterprise reported, Wetter said he received calls from agencies around California with concerns about mud runs in their areas.

“I imagine we are challenging the thought process” with the cancellation, he told the newspaper.

Dell’Osso Family Farm in Lathrop, which held its fifth Mud Run on the Farm on May 30, always has been water-conscious, said Susan Dell’Osso.

“We as a farm have converted all of our crops to drip irrigation and done a tremendous amount of conservation,” she said.

The farm uses nonpotable water water from its well to create the mud on the course, and reclaimed water to hose off the more than 4,000 people who did the run this year, Dell’Osso said.

Because the farm is so close to the San Joaquin River, she said, the water table is high, within 5 feet of the surface in some places, so the water used for the run seeps back into it.

To rinse off the participants, a Lathrop-Manteca Fire District crew used water from the retention pond Dell’Osso uses to create snow for its tubing hill in winter.

“We were sucking water right out of the pond of reclaimed water and spraying it onto participants,” Chief Gene Neely said.

That water went into a ditch and right back into the pond, Dell’Osso said. For a mud run, she said, “there’s no reason to use potable water.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Drought doesn’t make everyone a stick in the mud."