Millions of people visit the Disneyland Resort every year and that can leave a big ecological footprint. But it’s an impact that has been reduced by a push to recycle. “We recycled over 25 million pounds of material last year,” said Donna Baker, the resort’s manager of regulated waste.
That material includes paper, bottles, cans, plastic and even used soap from the resort’s more than 2,300 hotel rooms. The soap is collected and given to the “Clean the World” organization, where it is sanitized and then distributed globally to those in need.
Water used at the resort has always gotten a lot of attention. Since Disneyland was built in 1955, the water ponds and creeks were — and still are — connected in a “closed loop” system. They include Storybook Canal, Sleeping Beauty Castle moat, Rivers of America and the Jungle Cruise. That water is continuously sent through a filtration system.
The same thing happens to the 16 million gallon lagoon at Disney California Adventure, which takes 36 hours to filter. All the other water-based rides are each individually closed loop as well. When they are drained for maintenance, including the Rivers of America, that water is sent to the Orange County Water District to be recycled through its groundwater replenishment system.
Rainwater has been getting increased attention, too. Cars Land was designed so that all the rain that falls on its 12 acres is filtered, then sent to filtration basins under the rockwork for the land, where it is allowed to percolate down into Orange County’s groundwater table.
The Toy Story parking lot was designed to do the same thing, including porous asphalt where the cars park, along with nearby filtration basins. Similar plans have been developed for the “Star Wars” land project under construction at Disneyland.
Reducing water use for the resort’s landscaping has also been a priority. Sensors monitor the soil at locations throughout the resort. That information is sent to computers that also receive weather forecasts and those computers determine what needs water and when. Much of that water arrives not via sprinklers, but by drip-tubes.
“We have about 25 miles of drip-tubing on the property,” said Ryan Childs, manager of landscaping at the resort.
Water is used in saving energy at the resort too. As part of the Cars Land project, a 1.7 million-gallon thermal water tank was built to hold chilled water. It was plumbed into the park’s air-conditioning systems.
“We can make chilled water at night, when electricity is readily available, then use that water in the air-conditioning systems in the afternoons,” said Eric Schlotthauer, the resort’s manager of utilities.
Afternoons, particularly on hot summer days, are when electrical grids are most challenged, Schlotthauer said. Using chilled water from the tank decreases electricity demand by the resort at those peak times.
To read the full story, visit http://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/20/how-disneyland-has-reduced-its-ecological-footprint-by-saving-water-recycling/.