San Jose dad hauls recycled water to keep little league baseball field green

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - A San Jose father is willing to drive hours each week, hauling hundreds of gallons of water for the sake of his kids' little league baseball field.

He says recycled water has been the key to keeping the field in good shape for tournaments during this drought.

Unfortunately getting it requires some time and some serious effort.

In his quest, to keep these fields alive, Dan Seoane of the Cambrian Park Little League, is willing to go the extra mile, or in this case an extra 72 miles, three days a week.

"It does take an hour and a half a trip pretty much," Seoane says.

He makes the drive from San Jose, up to the Dublin San Ramon Services District, where they provide free recycled water to anyone who needs it. Seoane fills up a 275 gallon tank each time - and he's not alone.

"We're starting to get maxed out on capacity here on how many people we can handle," says Dan Gallagher, Operations Manager.

Seoane says he'd love to see something similar closer to home.

"A lot of people just can't go to Dublin. It's coming out of my pocket to go to Dublin right now so I really hope we can get it locally," Seoane says.

Right now, that's easier said than done. In San Jose, there are limits on who can use recycled water.

"We really are concentrating on the commercial users right now," says Ed Bautista, spokesperson for San Jose Environmental Services.

And though city council member Don Rocha has been pushing to change that, it was met with limited support.

"I'm really not comfortable waiting another six months, so I'm looking for an opportunity internally to raise this issue with staff," says Rocha.

In the meantime, Seoane says he'll keep making that drive. He says maintaining the field is important for safety.

But he hopes other municipalities will start seeing the benefits of recycled water too.

"Get on board guys. We can save a lot more water than what we're doing now," he says.

And while San Jose plans to revisit the topic, the Dublin San Ramon Services District plans to expand.

They're offering extra hours to alleviate the lines there, starting next week.