Saving Water on Landscape Is A Science, Not an Art
By Sue Major Holmes/
Associated Press
Your city tells you to save water on your landscape, so you put in plants that drink less water, add a sprinkler system and obey restrictions that say you can water only on odd or even days.
In short, you've done everything you can, right?
Maybe not.
Landscape architects and irrigation consultants say restrictions on watering are too simplistic and do little to save water. Instead, they say, the beginning of conservation is good landscape design — and that takes educating the public in complicated ways.
From the desert Southwest and water-conscious California to newly parched areas of the normally verdant South, governments and residents alike are paying more attention to watering landscapes at homes and businesses as growing populations tap into the same water sources.
Last year, many communities in the South faced serious water shortages for the first time. Atlanta, for example, is entering its third year of drought.
"When you're living in a region that's used to getting 55 inches of rain a year, you don't hold onto it very well,'' acknowledges Melinda Langston, director of Atlanta's water conservation unit. "We've certainly learned a lot.''
Today, Atlanta offers water conservation programs, and its outdoor restrictions ban nearly all landscape watering except when residents plant for the first time. They get 30 days to establish plants — but can't use the water for a lawn.
Homeowners who want the 30-day exemption have to complete an online course that includes information about drought-tolerant plants and watering at the right time of day, Langston says.
Her division also gives "Water Smart'' workshops — landscaping to use less water.
"Grouping plants with like water needs together, mulching a certain way, if you are going to install an irrigation system use primarily drip irrigation, reducing turf areas,'' she says. "It's identical to xeriscape, but the word just hasn't caught on here in the South. People picture cactus and rocks and they just turn off — they don't hear anything after you say 'xeriscape.'''
Albuquerque for years has promoted xeriscaping — using low-water plants native to the area.
Irrigation consultant Dennis Wilkinson of Albuquerque says urban landscapes — even with grass — don't have to be water-intensive.
"A couple of years ago I took out my bluegrass and replaced it with a buffalo-blue grama lawn. ... I still have to mow it, but I don't mow as often and I don't water as much but I still have a nice lawn,'' he says.
Nationwide, watering lawns and gardens accounts for about a third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons a day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates.
"Outdoor watering is the most visible use of water,'' says Daniel Benner of Marietta, Ga., past president of the American Society of Irrigation Consultants. "When there's a shortage, that's the first place that the finger gets pointed at. It's the perception that outdoor watering is a luxury.''
Landscape professionals argue, however, that green space is important in cities.
"When everything's steel and concrete you have to soften that with something,'' Benner says. Plants aren't a luxury — they offset urban gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, he says.
The ASIC focuses on educating the landscape industry, rather than homeowners, and its members work largely on commercial and municipal projects. It's cities, counties and water districts that have tips for homeowners.
Many places also have stringent rules for watering. Some states, particularly in the desert Southwest and West, offer rebates to promote efficient water use. Some water districts in Florida and California require new subdivisions to be plumbed to use recycled water for irrigation.
"We should all be conserving water,'' says Dave Pagano, an irrigation consultant in Irvine, Calif., where rain is infrequent. California, rather than restricting when people can water, allocates a certain amount — and charges a substantial penalty for going over.
"That's the best incentive. ... If there's no real penalty, why work at it?'' Pagano says.
Wilkinson says restricting which days people can water reduces consumption, "but has it really solved the problem and gone toward the issue of proper education?''
And limiting watering to two or three days a week doesn't limit the amount a homeowner can use.
"I could put Albuquerque under water in three days,'' Pagano says. "What if you only need to water two days because of the plants you have?''
Landscape architect Greg Miller of Albuquerque says homeowners often don't know how much water grass or shrubs need or how to get water to plants efficiently.
"They water to the dry spots and overwater to the majority of landscape to keep the dry spots wet and growing,'' Miller says.
Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez agrees the average homeowner can't match a professional's knowledge.
"It's helpful to have odd-even days, things of that nature, where you can get savings,'' he says. "But if you can get the system more specific to how hot it is, how much rain we're having, measure the plant's moisture content, you can absolutely get the same bang, landscapewise, with less water.''
Those variables can bewilder do-it-yourselfers.
Pagano rattles off a list: how much water is used by the plant or evaporates; ("Turf grass uses more water more rapidly than say, a cactus.''); how dense are the plantings; is the area shady, sunny or in the wind; how much water can the soil hold and how much is available for the plant; how fast does a sprinkler system or drip irrigation apply water.
"A lot of people who wouldn't tackle electricity or plumbing are really comfortable installing irrigation,'' Miller says. "They're not purposely doing something bad, but they don't have an understanding of a few key things.''
Then there's the complication of running the system.
"Every zone is different, and different according to climate conditions of that day,'' Benner says. That means you don't have to water just because it's your irrigation day, and when you do water, you have to know how much each area needs.
That's why professionals promote "smart controllers'' on irrigation systems — because those controllers have a computer inside that can calculate all this.
"We could have the best design in the world ... then somebody gets ahold of it and starts pushing buttons and knobs and all that goes out the window if they do not know about managing the landscape,'' Pagano says.
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