Landscape Watering 101

California is in its fourth year of drought.  New rulings from Sacramento focus on reducing wasteful runoff and over watering in hope of reducing water usage 20%. Fines could be as high as $500 a day for failure to implement the required conservation steps and the City of Fresno has just gone from 3 days a week to two days a week in summer months. We have all seen the river of water going down the street and this is not good.  Nobody has asked us to let lawns go brown or reduce water by one-third either.  We must be very wise on how we apply the water to strive for peak efficiency as we have limited resources.

Brown is NOT the new green. 

It appears to me that the regulatory focus is on reduced water usage and stopping wasteful over watering and runoff.  I maintain that we can adopt the new guidelines, reduce our water consumption, and still have a green landscape.  It will take some effort, time, and likely some money. Let’s talk about lawns for example. 1) Only water on your watering days otherwise you may be fined.  2) Make sure that your sprinklers are adjusted to only apply water on the lawn and not the driveway, walks, or street as this may result in a fine.  3) Avoid watering midday as significant water will be lost to evaporation.  I would also try to avoid the 7 PM to midnight watering to reduce disease levels on tall fescue and ryegrass lawns.  4) Water application rates should not exceed the soil’s ability to absorb it.  If water starts to puddle it will be prone to runoff and this too could result in a fine.  You have two choices to reduce runoff.  You can upgrade to nozzles that put out less water and run them longer or you could run multiple short cycles spaced an hour or two apart to allow the shorter cycles to soak in before running off.

There are a few other options available to consider that result in using less water. Invest in a “smart” clock that will regularly adjust the water requirements based on the temperature, soil type, plant type, terrain slope, etc.  If not this then at least get a clock that will allow multiple daily watering to avoid water runoff and deeper watering.  The use of a good soil surfactant will help the soil more easily accept more water instead of repelling which will decrease dry spots and enhance the soil water reservoir.  Sub irrigation (underground drip) is another approach that will get more notice in the future as significantly less water is used and runoff is nearly eliminated.  In flowerbeds, drip irrigation products like Netafim offer significant water savings over traditional sprinklers.

For more information on water usage compliance and conservation while preserving your landscape call Aqua Man at 559-475-7777 or Weed Man at 559-266-1624.  We would be very happy to talk to you! The City of Fresno at 621-5480 is also willing to help answer questions for those homes in their city limits.