Water Conservation

One of the things that I vowed to due this year was to cut down on my outdoor water use. We have a xeriscaped yard, so I decided it was high time that it actually perform that way. Of course, one of our big water users was our corn garden. In years past we watered it with a rotary sprinkler hooked on the hose. Problem is, I would turn it on in the evening, then forget about it. In the morning I would find it still on watering away! Our annual water allotment for our lot size is 240,000 gallons. The last few years we have zoomed past that by early August...and of course have paid dearly.

This spring I reworked the irrigation system in the regular garden, and installed one in the corn garden, so no more overhead sprinklers. In the corn garden, I have hooked it up to the irrigation system, but havn't actually put it on the clock. I have discovered that all I need to is to turn it on for about 15 minutes every few days, and with the soaker hoses, that is all I need to do. I use that time to week the garden and do pruning, so I don't forget it. I have also put washers in all the hose bibs and hose connections, dramatically cutting back on the leaks. I have also cut back on the overall watering.

So far it is working. Yesterday we recieved our water bill. Last year we used 41,000 gallons in June, this year, only 14,000 gallons. I think, our running total for the year is about 100,000 gallons. I think we will have a good summer for water use!

Oh, we also made it all the way to June 25th before we turned on the A/C!