Placer High School Sprinklers Ran Nonstop Through Memorial Day Weekend

AUBURN (CBS13) — A sprinkler system at an Auburn high school was left on for days, leaving ankle deep pools of wasted water during California's drought.

The water ran on Memorial Day weekend at Placer High School until neighbors called to complain.

Kimberly Morrow lives down the street from the school. She noticed a set of sprinklers near the auditorium turn on Friday evening and never turn off.

After several hours, water filled nearby tree beds and rushed all the way down to the street.

"We gotta save water and limit our showers, limit our dishwashing,so it was pretty shocking to me," she said.

Neighbors say those sprinklers ran for three days straight before their frustrations built up enough to call the Placer County Water Agency.

Doug Marquand with the Placer Union High School District says the sprinkler timers malfunctioned and got stuck in the on position.

"As soon as we were informed about it the water was shut off in an hour or less," he said. "It's really an unfortunate situation. We feel really bad about it."

And he says it is unusual for such a significant leak to have gone unreported that long.

"We do have a lot of people going around our schools at all hours of the day, so I think because of the holiday weekend people were just not doing school activity events and weren't on campus," he said.

Now neighbors will be paying closer attention, and the school district taking extra steps to prevent any more water waste.