La Plata County Sustainability Office Offers Watering Efficiency Measures

 

Durango, CO – The hot days of summer are here again!  And, there are some key “do’s and don’ts” when it comes to watering efficiency measures.  By following these few basic water conservation principles, we all can do our part to help conserve our community’s precious water resource and still enjoy a healthy, hardy and drought-resistant landscape.

 

•      Water as deeply and as infrequently as possible.  It will help to stimulate healthy and deeper root growth which makes the grass more resistant to drought and diseases.  In Colorado, cool season turfgrass such as bluegrass, fescue, perennial ryegrass, or bentgrass needs regular applications of water.  Always check the soil moisture prior to watering and never water until the top layer of the soil has dried.

 

•      Water application guideline.  Apply 1.0 to 1.5 inches of water per each application.  To determine watering time required, set several shallow pans in different areas of the lawn for thirty minutes; then take the average depth of water in these containers multiplied by two, which is the inches of water per hour being emitted by the sprinkling system.  

 

•      Watering frequency.  Look for signs of wilt to determine watering frequency.  Some of these often show up in the same location on the lawn: footprints or lawn mower tracks that remain at least one half hour after traffic has passed, or turf that turns a shade of blue-gray when it is water stressed. 

 

•    Watering times.  It works best to water between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m., but not during the heat of the day or when the wind is blowing due to evaporation loss.       

 

•      Eliminating waste.  Always monitor and adjust your sprinklers to hit the landscape only, not the house, sidewalk, street or parking lot.  Typically, shaded areas need watering less often than turf areas in full sun.  Avoid applying more water than can be contained in the root zone.  Skip watering on days following one half inches or more of rainfall.  On cool cloudy days, plants use less water and there is less evaporation.  This extends the time between watering.

 

•      Check your watering system.  Check to see how long each zone is scheduled to operate and adjust the timer.  A shade zone will require less water than a hot, sunny area and the cooler seasons require less water than during hot summer months.  Check sprinkler heads frequently to make sure that they are functioning properly and learn how to operate your system manually. 

 

•      Watering with a hose?  Use household timers to remind you to move or stop soaker hoses and sprinklers, and check your sprinklers to see how much water they put out.  You can also use a watering timer device to help regulate watering practices.

•      Leading by example.   As community members, we all can take a more thoughtful and proactive role in implementing watering efficiency measurers.  La Plata County government welcomes feedback from its citizens as a way to further hold us accountable when it comes to maximizing these watering efficiency measurers.  If you have any watering inefficiencies at county facilities to report, or have any questions, comments, and suggestions, please call the La Plata County Sustainability Office at (970) 382-6417.

For more information and to offer suggestions with respect to La Plata County’s sustainability initiatives, please contact Walt Serfoss, Sustainability Coordinator, at (970) 382-6417 or by email at [email protected].