Three Ways to Deal with the Drought
In California, more than half of the water used at your home is for outside purposes. Studies show that on average, half of the water used outdoors is wasted. The leading cause of waste is incorrectly set and poorly managed irrigation controllers. The second biggest cause of wastage is broken irrigation equipment that goes undetected. There are a few basic things you can do to make a big difference in your water use.
1. Reset your irrigation controller to no more than twice a week during the drought. The idea is to do two deep soaks per week. If you can get water into the root zone and away from the evaporative effect of the sun or avoid losing the irrigation water to runoff, you can save a great deal of water. A deep soak might mean multiple cycle starts with pauses between the cycles to give the water time to penetrate our heavy clay soils before more water is added. Usually a 20 minute pause works fine.
2. Keep in touch with your local water supplier: add your name to their print and email newsletter or join their Facebook page. This will enable you to get the timely information you need in order to respond to weather conditions, rebate programs and changing drought issues.
3. Inspect your Irrigation system for breaks and leaks.