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Just changing mowing height can save water, according to another permaculture expert, Bill Wilson, co-owner and lead teacher at Midwest Permaculture, Stelle, Illinois, a school that offers weeklong 72-hour intensives for landscape architects, contractors and anyone else who wants to learn about this approach to landscaping.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you use a variety of grass that looks good at 4 inches and keep it at that height, when it rains, less water runs off the property and more of it soaks in. Lawns become fresher and greener and require a lot less irrigation than if they\u2019re kept at 2 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n
The water savings comes with an extra bonus: better soil. \u201cKeeping grass longer builds a lawn\u2019s topsoil and adds organic matter to it,\u201d says Wilson. He says this happens even if you don\u2019t mulch-mow, leaving the clippings in place \u2014 but if you do, even better.<\/p>\n
Mulching also has a big role to play in saving water and protecting soil. \u201cPutting down mulch serves a couple of different purposes,\u201d says landscape designer Donna Dowson, owner of Dowson Design, Sacramento, California. \u201cBesides making everything look clean, neat and finished, it protects the soil and helps reduce weeds. Bare soil loses a lot of water to evaporation, and mulch really slows that down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mulch of choice is wood chips. As they break down over time, they become organic material for the soil. And as Garcia also pointed out, the more organic your soil is, the more water it retains.<\/p>\n
Practicing permaculture<\/h3>\n
We can\u2019t talk about saving water without mentioning permaculture, a growing movement within both landscaping and agriculture. While it includes aspects of organic landscaping, which eschews chemical inputs such as fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, it goes way beyond that. Conservation of resources, especially water, is a big part of it.<\/p>\n
What is permaculture? The definition differs slightly depending on which practitioner you talk to. \u201cIt\u2019s seeing the world through the eyes of nature,\u201d says permaculture expert and landscape contractor Mike Garcia, owner of Enviroscape LA, Redondo Beach, California. \u201cIt has three foundational principles: earth care, human care and future care, meaning that we leave the Earth a better place for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not just some West Coast trend. Bill and Becky Wilson own Midwest Permaculture in Stelle, Illinois, a school where landscape architects, contractors and all sorts of people from all over the country come to take weeklong 72-hour intensive training in the principles of permaculture.<\/p>\n
\u201cPermaculture is an umbrella word for all things sustainable; it\u2019s shorthand for \u2018permanent culture,\u2019\u201d explains Bill Wilson. \u201cIt\u2019s looking at all the things we do and figuring out how we can do them in such a way that we can live a life that\u2019s truly abundant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Techniques like soil conditioning, rainwater harvesting, turf replacement, digging rain gardens and planting natives are all permaculture practices. Growing edible landscapes is another big one.<\/p>\n
Garcia mentions a recent visit he made to a client where he spotted a man\u2019s big, healthy hydrangea plant. \u201cTypically, those take a ton of water. I asked him how much he waters it, and he told me, \u2018Almost never, it lives on rainwater.\u2019 I said, \u2018You\u2019re kidding! You must be into permaculture.\u2019 It turns out that he is, in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n
As is Garcia. He believes so strongly in permaculture and water conservation that he filled in his own swimming pool and made a garden out of it. Of course, you don\u2019t have to be as gung-ho as Garcia is to use some permaculture practices on the landscapes you tend. If you do, they\u2019ll be better off for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Perform an irrigation audit<\/h2>\n
Doing a formal irrigation system performance audit, the procedure that involves laying out catch cans and doing mathematical calculations to determine a system\u2019s distribution uniformity, will reveal a system\u2019s inadequacies. One audit of a large condo development in Minnesota showed that out of the facility\u2019s 7,800 total sprinkler heads, 28%, or 2,208 of them, were broken. When over a quarter of your sprinklers aren\u2019t working right, it certainly can waste a lot of water, especially on such a large scale.<\/p>\n
Although performing an irrigation system audit is invaluable, a simple irrigation inspection can also be revealing. You can pick up a lot of clues by simply turning on a system and walking the site scanning for obvious issues \u2014 things like clogged, broken or misting heads; wet walls and walkways; and water running into the street.<\/p>\n
Change out old components and add new ones<\/h2>\n
You can dramatically decrease the amount of water used in a landscape by adding smart controllers and soil moisture and rain sensors.<\/p>\n
You can also choose different components to deliver water through the system. Simply substituting more efficient Environmental Protection Agency WaterSense-rated nozzles for older or conventional sprays and rotors can cut water use by 30% or more.<\/p>\n
Toro says its Precision series of nozzles can save 16,000 gallons of water per zone per year.<\/p>\n
Rotary nozzles like Hunter\u2019s MP Rotator and other similar rotary sprinklers made by different manufacturers deliver multiple, distinct streams of water. \u201cThe way a rotator works, with multiple streams of water coming out in bigger droplets, is all the water that comes out of it ends up on the landscape instead of in the air,\u201d says Kelsey Jacquard, senior product manager, Hunter Industries, San Marcos, California. These sprinklers also have low precipitation rates.<\/p>\n
All of the major sprinkler manufacturers have branded water-conservation nozzles. \u201cIn the industry, generally speaking, a water-conserving nozzle is one with a precipitation rate of 1 inch per hour or less,\u201d says Chris Davey, product marketing manager, residential and commercial irrigation at The Toro Company\u2019s irrigation division, Riverside, California. Some put down even less than that, one-half inch per hour.<\/p>\n
Drip and low-volume microsprays and bubblers irrigate in terms of gallons per hour, where conventional sprays and rotors do it in gallons per minute. Drip and point-source irrigation deposits water directly to a plant\u2019s roots, with little lost to evaporation. This type of irrigation is ideal for planter beds.<\/p>\n
Use pressure-regulating sprinklers and check valves<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019ve ever visited a county fair or a theme park on a hot day, you\u2019ve probably seen the \u201cmisting stations\u201d set up to keep visitors cool. But a sprinkler system that produces mist is just wasting water. \u201cAs pressure increases, so does an irrigation system\u2019s flow rate,\u201d says David L. White, channel marketing manager for Rain Bird, Azusa, California. \u201cVisibly, high-pressure flows look like misted water and clouds of overspray that blow out of the irrigation zone with the wind. The results are wasted water, higher water bills and damaged system components.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a simple solution to this. \u201cTo get the largest amount of water savings with sprays and rotors, use the ones that are pressure-regulated,\u201d says Davey.<\/p>\n
In California, this will soon be a requirement. Starting next year, any new sprinkler nozzles sold in the state must, by law, incorporate pressure regulators. The Natural Resources Defense Council says that this alone could save over 400 million gallons of water per day in 10 years. Colorado, Hawaii, Vermont and Washington state have adopted similar regulations.<\/p>\n
Davey says the second-largest savings would come from using some sort of a check device (also called a check valve), whether it\u2019s an internal one built into the spray head itself or added on as an ancillary item. If it\u2019s not already built into a nozzle, a check device can be threaded onto it. All the major manufacturers provide check device options in most of their pop-up spray or rotor lines.<\/p>\n
Find turf\u2019s happy medium<\/h2>\n
When a drought hits, municipalities and water purveyors start offering monetary incentives to home and business owners for replacing their lawns with artificial turf or plants such as succulents or natives.<\/p>\n
Turf replacement is a controversial topic in landscape and irrigation circles, and understandably so. Landscape, landscape maintenance and lawn care contractors don\u2019t like to hear people being encouraged to tear out grass lawns, as mowing, trimming, fertilizing, aerating and applying weed and pest control to that grass are their livelihood.<\/p>\n
And grass has benefits. It produces oxygen, reduces soil erosion and reduces the urban heat island effect. Most of all, it produces beauty and provides human enjoyment and serenity.<\/p>\n
The key is to find a happy medium, and that\u2019s to water turf more efficiently. You can start doing this right away, without even changing out any of the sprinkler heads, by resetting the controller to \u201ccycle and soak.\u201d If the controller doesn\u2019t have a cycle-and-soak setting, change the schedule so that the system stays on long enough to water down to a 6-inch depth. Then, the lawn should be allowed to dry out almost completely before the controller lets the system water again.<\/p>\n
Deep, infrequent watering gets down to the grass\u2019 roots and prevents saturation and runoff. Individual grass plants send roots deeper into the ground, resulting in healthier lawns \u2014 and a healthy lawn needs much less water overall.<\/p>\n
Plant xeriscapes and natives<\/h2>\n
You can also exchange thirsty ornamentals for drought-tolerant plants such as cacti and succulents, plant natives, or use a combination of both.<\/p>\n
Xeriscapes are popular in Arizona, and Andy Avots, co-owner of Agave Landscape, Gilbert, Arizona, installs plenty of them. Avots says xeriscape plants still need some water, just not as much. He cautions that every yard has a hot spot, and some plants, even xeriscape plants, can\u2019t tolerate being planted there.<\/p>\n
Planting natives is Avots\u2019 choice when selecting water-saving plant alternatives. Natives need much less water because they\u2019ve evolved in the region and are more likely to survive its conditions.<\/p>\n
Recycle the rainwater<\/h2>\n
It is surprising that rainwater harvesting isn\u2019t practiced more, since rain is one of the few things in life we get for free. And very few states have regulations controlling rainwater harvesting. If dollar bills or diamonds fell from the sky at regular intervals, everyone would have barrels out to catch them. It\u2019s common in places like Africa, where rainfall isn\u2019t taken for granted.<\/p>\n
Interest in rainwater recapture systems peaks during periods of drought. During California\u2019s last long dry spell, landscape and irrigation contractors who installed them had more work than they could handle. The market was driven by people\u2019s fears of dead trees and landscapes in the face of draconian water restrictions and tiered rates. Now that the drought has been over for a while, the demand for these systems has cooled.<\/p>\n
Systems range from a simple rain barrel or cistern that uses gravity to feed water into a drip irrigation system, to sophisticated setups with underground storage and filtration.<\/p>\n
According to RainCatcher, a Tacoma, Washington-based nonprofit organization that works to provide clean water for children in the developing world through affordable and sustainable solutions, a 1,000-square-foot roof can capture as many as 625 gallons of clean water for every inch of rainfall.<\/p>\n
Dig a rain garden<\/h2>\n
A rain garden is a bowl-shaped depression designed to collect runoff from a lawn, a roof or pavement and hold it temporarily until it percolates back down into the ground, keeping it out of storm drains. A rain garden can hold 200 gallons of water.<\/p>\n Wilson teaches his students how to construct them. They dig a 12-inch deep hole that is flat across the bottom with banked sides that slope about 45 degrees. \u201cWe put seeds and plant plugs in the bottom right away, and throw in some clover, as it pops up quickly and gives you a nice green look while all the other native plants and wildflowers are taking hold.\u201d<\/p>\n Oftentimes, gravel is placed in the bottom to aid drainage. Wilson says that in the Midwest, it\u2019s common to just have soil in the bottom of a rain garden; it depends on what type of soil an area has and how well it drains.<\/p>\n You\u2019d think that a rain garden would be an ideal breeding spot for mosquitoes, but Wilson says it\u2019s not. \u201cWhen you first build one, water will sit in it for about three days; after a while, it\u2019s lucky if it stays in there for one day. The breeding cycle of a mosquito is seven to 10 days. Unless it rains every three days or for 10 days straight, the larvae dry up.\u201d<\/p>\n So, if we could design the ideal water- efficient landscape, what would it look like? It would be irrigated completely or partially with collected rainwater, graywater or reclaimed water (partially treated sewage water is available in some places). Areas with grass would be fitted with precision spray nozzles or rotary sprinklers with matched precipitation rates; planting beds would have drip emitters, low-volume microsprays or bubblers. Then we\u2019d add rain and soil moisture sensors and a smart controller to schedule everything.<\/p>\n On the landscaping side, we\u2019d use a combination of native or drought-tolerant plantings, properly mulched, in good soil full of microbes and mycorrhizae with a rain garden or two thrown in.<\/p>\n Even if you do just one or two of these things for your clients, you will cut their water usage, and their bills, by a substantial amount. And they, and all the living things on this planet that can\u2019t survive without water, will thank you for doing so.<\/p>\n It\u2019s shocking to realize this, but every time we take a shower, wash our hands or launder our clothes, we\u2019re wasting water \u2014 unless we\u2019re recycling it back to a landscape somehow.<\/p>\n This wastewater, the effluent from bathroom sinks, tubs and clothes-washing machines, is called graywater. Some states classify kitchen sink discharge as graywater. Other states, because of its bacterial content, consider it \u201cblackwater\u201d along with toilet output and ban its reuse.<\/p>\n According the Water \u2013 Use It Wisely campaign, an Arizona water conservation effort, the installation of a graywater system can save a typical household around 40,000 gallons of water a year.<\/p>\n The easiest route is to build a simple laundry-to-landscape system. Plans for these are readily available on the internet, from nonprofit organizations like Greywater Action and others. More sophisticated systems are also available commercially; these would have a higher profit margin for an installing contractor.<\/p>\n Before you install anything, though, check your state and local laws to see what\u2019s allowed in your area. Greywater Action began life as an underground effort, as recycling graywater was illegal in many states when they started promoting it.<\/p>\n There are some general rules that apply as well. Unlike rainwater, graywater can\u2019t be stored longer than 24 hours because the organic matter in it decomposes and uses up the dissolved oxygen, making it smell bad among other things.<\/p>\n Because of what it contains, graywater can\u2019t be channeled through conventional sprinkler systems; health authorities quite wisely don\u2019t want the bacteria or viruses in graywater misting into the air. A properly filtered drip irrigation system is the main method for distributing gray- water to landscapes.<\/p>\n Graywater comes with another plus for landscape plants and turf. The organic matter in it provides a kind of fertigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There are many ways you can help your clients reduce the amount of water they use, and their landscapes will be better for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":5190,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[27],"class_list":["post-4141","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-irrigation"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"reduce](\"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/less-water-more-green-3.jpg\")
The graywater that can keep landscapes green<\/h3>\n
This article originally appeared in Irrigation & Green Industry magazine.<\/em><\/h6>\n
Mary Williams-Villano<\/strong><\/a> is a contributing editor to Irrigation & Green Industry and can be reached at pouncerspy@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"