How to Save Water with Landscaping

There are many people who believe that landscaping is a major user of our precious water supply. However, experts tell us that the landscaping use of water is less than 3% of total water use. A large part of this misconception comes from the belief that the more colorful and more bountiful landscape items are huge water users and this is not the case.

A good place to start in order to lower this level of water use is to get landscapers and gardeners to look at their systems. Poor design and poor installation can cause an excessive amount of water to be used. Overlapping spray patterns and poor runoff control also adds to unnecessary water use. A goal of getting the water use planning up front in the design of systems would be a big help for conservation

More extensive use of timed water delivery devices along with education of just when to water would help a great deal. For example, a knowledgeable gardener would learn how much water is needed and then schedule the watering at the coolest time so that there would be less evaporation.

Some gardens are planned with the full knowledge that excessive water will be used. For example, if a gardener insists that every tiny space get the same water, he could easily be spraying water outside the garden area. These kinds of small niches can be watered manually or with a short pine run from the main line. The key is to get the mind set of landscapers and gardeners into saving water.

Still another way to get some conservation is to enlist the help of nurseries who sell plants to the growers. Water conservation emphasis at the nursery level would be a consistent and frequent reminder for all to use less water. There have been suggestions that incentives should be provided for saving water and perhaps that will occur soon.

Local and State governments can help also. The use of water in public facilities can be controlled and publicized as a way of keeping water conservation in front of peoples eyes, particularly during planting and soil preparation times.

Many garden clubs have been enlisted as help for saving water and that effort could be expanded. The need for water saving devices is well understood by most club members and they are frequently willing to share that information.

A steady and consistent effort to save water by every resource will achieve the goal of saving water.