Care, Devices Can
Save Water, Money

Tulare - Summer water bills can soar as homeowners try to keep their lawns green despite triple-digit temperatures, but local landscape experts agree most people could do more to conserve both water and their dollars.

And by doing so, people will find they have healthier lawns, they said.
“Most people over water their lawns,” said Trey Ogden, manager of Ewing, 2321 South K St. “If you over or under water, you're going to stress your lawn.”
Ogden said “a ton of options” exist for people looking for help in better managing their watering. “I think a lot of people are afraid of it, because they think it's going to be expensive.”

His company, a national firm with more than 200 stores coast-to-coast, carries many water conservation products that vary in price and sophistication.

The WaterTec S100 soil moisture sensor, for example, costs $125 and can be used with an existing sprinkler timer. Homeowners can install it themselves, although “there is a little bit of a learning curve,” Ogden said. “It might take a month or two to get it dialed in to fit your yard, but from then on you shouldn't have to mess with it.”
The savings with devices such as this can be significant, he said.

“My boss has this in Fresno and in the month of June his irrigation ran seven times,” instead of three times a week, he said. “It forced the roots of his [fescue] grass to go deeper, which ends up giving you a healthier plant.”

More sophisticated and costly products include the Torro Intelli-Sense, which starts at $200 and increases, depending on how many valves the irrigation system has, Ogden said.

The system uses state-of-the-art evapotranspiration technology that determines the amount of watering needed based upon such factors as sprinkler type, precipitation rate and efficiency, plant type and root depth, slope and sprinkler location, soil type, climate and usable rainfall.

Bill Morgan, a Ewing sales representative, said a couple new subdivisions in Tulare are installing as a matter of course “smart control” watering systems that help homeowners give their landscape just the right amount of water.

“Starting in 2012, all controllers sold will have to a smart controller,” Morgan said.

Watering Basics

Even if a homeowner chooses not to add a “smart control” device, he or she can take basic steps to curb overwatering.

“Make sure your system is in proper working order,” said Chris Quinn, owner of Quinn Landscape Services. “Make sure you don't have breakage in the system. You always have to do minor adjustments on sprinklers because their heads can get turned and they'll start spraying into the street.”

One mistake people often make is to put the same size gallon nozzle on each sprinkler head, which means some areas will get too little water and others too much, Quinn said.

Having multiple start times on watering days is another way to limit water usage and prevent run-off, he said.

Someone who normally waters 15 minutes per day might want to time the watering to observe at what point the water starts to run off the lawn.

If it's 5 minutes, then water or set the controls to water three times for five minutes each on any given water day, Quinn said. “With timers that are 15 years old and newer, you have the ability to have multiple start times. "Now a day, they're very, very easy to run.”

Chris Reed, supervisor and commercial and industrial outside salesman for Morris Levin & Son said he has noticed an increase in the number of people coming into the store looking for timers, low-gallon volume drippers and other water conservation items since the city has put every home on a water meter.

“As the water issue gets worse, that's going to become more important,” Reed said.
Quinn agreed and said that is one reason he is in the processes of becoming a certified water auditor through the Irrigation Association.

“Five years ago I could less about it, but it [water conservation] is just a huge thing right now and we need the water,” he said.

Water auditors are in short supply with only 1,100 nationwide, he said.
James Gowin through his business, Gowin Green, offers yet another option to saving water – paint the grass.

“Golf courses have been doing this for quite some time,” Gowin said.

The above story is the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.