PRESS RELEASE

El Dorado Hills Telegraph
August 24, 2005

SERRANO WINS NATIONAL AWARD FOR ITS RECYCLED WATER PROGRAM

El Dorado Hills' Serrano, one of the first master-planned communities in the nation to use recycled water for irrigation on a grand scale, will accept a 2005 WateReuse Award of Merit from the WateReuse Foundation at its annual symposium in Denver next month.

The award, given at the national level, recognizes Serrano's trend-setting efforts in using recycled water not only for the community's common areas and golf courses but for the front and backyards of 2,774 homes and for the grounds at Oak Meadow Elementary, an on-site Serrano school. Serrano is prepared to supply recycled water to approximately 3,500 homes when the community reaches build out.

Back in 1999, after using recycled water in common areas and the golf courses for many years, Serrano became the first planned community in California - and among the first in the nation - to go one step further and provide recycled water for residents' yards.

"As a pioneer in the use of recycled water, Serrano has made a concerted effort to share valuable information about our program in order to encourage other communities to follow suit," says Kirk Bone of Serrano's government affairs office. "Our program serves as a model at various meetings and conferences throughout California. And, at the county level, the El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) is now asking that new developments adopt programs similar to Serrano's whenever feasible.

"By using recycled water, Serrano homeowners save on water bills, the EID saves millions of dollars in treatment costs by reducing discharges into local streams, and Parker Development Company, Serrano's developers, is able to play a small but important role in conserving this precious resource as the demand for water in California continues to increase," Bone adds.

Parker Development Company has spent approximately $20 million to create Serrano's recycled water infrastructure.

In 1998, Serrano won the "Project of the Year" award from the California WateReuse Association, which is affiliated with the national foundation. And last year, the EID was honored by the state association for its role.

The WateReuse Foundation is a national educational, nonprofit public benefit corporation that serves as a centralized organization for the water and wastewater community to advance the science of water reuse, recycling, reclamation, and desalination.

Serrano's WateReuse award is the second in recent months that recognizes the 3,500-acre master-planned community's efforts in the area of conservation. Serrano won a 2005 Award of Excellence from The National Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of its efforts in saving trees during the development process. Serrano will accept the tree award at the Building for Greener Communities National Conference in Nebraska City, Neb., in September and will also send a representative to the WateReuse symposium to accept the water recycling award.

For more information about the Serrano community and its nature preservation activities, please visit www.serranoeldorado.com.