Practical Tips for Conserving Water in the Landscape

Reducing outdoor water use on a residential scale is absolutely necessary during times of drought but is really something that we need to do consistently in the Mediterranean climate we live in here in California. Here are a few more tips to add to the article 'Save our water! Tips for conserving water outdoors' in the Chico News and Review January 30, 2014 issue:

1. Reduce/remove your lawn by sheet mulching
2. Plant perennials instead of annuals
3. Boost the soil food web living in your soil
4. Install a clothes washer greywater system
5. Harvest rainwater

1. Lawn watering consumes more than half of all the water used by most California households -an average of more than 300 gallons each and every time! Removing all or reducing the size of your lawn will save an enormous amount of water. One method of removing lawn area is to sheet mulch it. Sheet mulching uses overlapping layers of cardboard, compost, other organic materials and a topping of mulch which creates an 'instant garden'. It will smother the turf and help build soil organic matter for planting vegetable gardens, drought tolerant and native plants and/or trees. You can find more information about sheet mulching from StopWaste.org as well as numerous photos of our past sheet mulching projects on our Facebook page.

Top: Before, Middle: After, Bottom: 1 year later

2. Planting perennials instead of annuals (both edible and ornamental) will also reduce irrigation needs as the roots of perennials often go much deeper into the soil where moisture is better conserved than at the surface where it evaporates. As the News and Review article stated mulching all areas of the garden is an additional water conservation method substantially reducing evaporation -although we would go a little further and advise at least a 3-4" layer of mulch. Mulch can be straw or arbor chips, even rocks cover the soil and conserve moisture.

Mulched perennial palnts

3. Ensuring your soil is alive with a diversity of beneficial soil microorganisms (the soil food web) can reduce water consumption up to 70% according to Dr. Elaine Ingham, soil food web pioneer and microbiologist. The bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, micro/macro arthropods and earthworms present in healthy soil act to preserve moisture and nutrients -reducing the need for both water and fertilizers. More information about the soil food web can be found by reading 'Soil Biology Primer' at the USDA website.

The Soil Food Web image courtesy of the Soil Biology Primer Photo Gallery

4. Clothes washer or laundry to landscape (L2L) greywater systems are legal to install without a permit in California as of 2009. L2L systems are relatively easy to install and can dramatically reduce potable water use for your perennials and trees (L2L systems are great for fruit trees!). It's important to have an understanding (and hands on skills when possible) of how to install, use and maintain graywater systems to avoid problems. You can find more information about greywater by looking at the Oasis Design website as well as the Greywater Action website. You can also read about California's greywater standards (CPC, Title24, Part 5, Chapter 16A, Part I Nonpotable Water Reuse Systems) which establishes the minimum requirements for the installation of greywater systems. Or download the code. You can also view the farm scale greywater system design that we drew for Chaffin Family Orchards last year as part of the Butte County Composting Toilet and Greywater Pilot Project.

Photo from harvestingrainwater.com by Brad Lancaster

5. When it does rain utilizing rainwater harvesting systems on your property is an easy way to water surrounding perennial trees and plants by allowing the rainwater to deeply penetrate heavily mulched soils. Depending on the placement of rainwater catchment they can also prevent excess rainwater from entering streets and stormwater systems which in urban areas flows into our local creeks and rivers contaminating the waterways with oil and other pollutants. The basic concept with rainwater should be that it is slowed down, spread out and sunk into the soil to reduce erosion and to aid in local water table and aquifer recharge -and if we can also utilize the rainwater for our landscapes and gardens all the better.  Both passive and active rainwater harvesting systems are simple and easy to install. Passive rainwater harvesting systems are earthworks which utilize the soil as the catchment system -such as rain gardens and infiltration trenches and mulch basins. Passive rainwater harvesting can also be integrated with a greywater systems. Active rainwater harvesting systems are as simple as 55 gallon rain barrels and as complex as 1000+ gallon cisterns which are excellent for supplementing annual garden irrigation. There is a lot of information about how to design and install both types of systems on the internet but the best resource is from Brad Lancaster in his books 'Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1 and 2'. You can visit Brad's website too for loads of information.

From the downspout rooftop rainwater moves into a curved infiltration trench out to the landscape

As one can see there are a lot of ways to reduce and reuse residential water and all the methods listed here can be used together to create a veritable landscape oasis. Over 38 million people live in California and if we all utilize these water conserving methods to some degree it would go a long way to protecting our future water supply -for the natural environment and for our children.