It's good to water your lawn and plants every other day in order to conserve water.  This will cut your water usage in half and it's not going to hurt your grass at all.  It's actually beneficial to the lawn because watering too much hurts the root system.  Studies have shown that most people overwater their lawns by over 50%. 

Start conserving at a high rate.  If things start looking a little more brown than usual then you can start watering a little more often.

Alternatively, you can water daily, but cut down on the amount of time your sprinklers are on each day.  A few minutes of water is all your grass really needs.

Don't forget to water at night when it's cool outside and never water on windy days. As much as 30% of water used can be lost to evaporation by watering your lawn during midday.  It's best to water your lawn in the early morning when the grass has the most amount of dew on it.  This allows the dew to absorb into the soil.

The amount of water used by a sprinkler in one hour is equal to the daily water needs of a family of four!  The average sprinkler will use in excess of 240 gallons of water per hour.  If the average person sprinkles every day for a half hour and reduced that to once a week, one could save 37,560 gallons a year!! This is huge!

How to Get Your Sprinkler System Ready for Winter

From eHow

Need to winterize your sprinkler system but want to save some money at the same time, well it does not take much if you have a few handy tools around.

The first thing you will want to do is disconnect any outside lines from your outside faucet, not only the sprinkler system but any garden hoses as well. Even with freeze proof outside faucets a connected hose can bust your water line during freezing temperatures.

The second item is to make a homemade device that will allow you to hook your air compressor to your sprinkler system. Using a 1/4 inch round 4 inch long piece of heater hose available at any auto parts store connect a garden hose end into one side and clamp down with a hose clamp. Then push an air comporessor line end into the other side and hose clamp that down as well. Now you have a device to hook up the air compressor to the sprinkler system.

Hook the connector to your air compressor and then to your supply line of your sprinkler system. Turn the supply valve on your air compressor off and turn on your air compressor. When the air compressor is fully charged open up your supply valve on your air compressor and you will see water coming out of your sprinkler system. You may have to repeat this step a few times until all the water is out of your system due to the pressure of your air compressor getting low. Lastly you can pour some RV antifreeze down the line using a funnel, I have never done this but if you are worried about water still being in the line this would give extra insurance to the problem of freezing.

• You may have to perform step three a few times until all the water is out of the system. You will know when all the water is out because there will be very little mist coming out of the sprinkler heads.
• Ensure that you disconnect all outside connectors from your outside faucet to keep pipes from bursting during freezing temps. (Even if you have a freeze proof outside faucet.)

reference link: http://www.libertylake.org/water_conservation.htm

3 Comments

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pjmeara3119 says:

We can also use the saved rain water to water plants, lawns etc.  Rain is meant for this, shocking I know, but use the idea of any rain not going where it needs to go, we step in and save it for use at other times.

posted 03/16/09 at 05:55 PM

 

Rotkapchen says:

Better yet, don't have a lawn. We own a townhome with a great garden area, full of plantings but no grass. When 100+ weather is in force, I hand water on 'off' days, for susceptible plants (mostly the hydrangeas). http://twurl.nl/qbrc8g

posted 07/30/08 at 07:53 PM

 

thecitizen says:

Los Angeles is about to pass (cross your fingers) a restriction on watering your lawn between 9am and 6pm and will give citations for violations.  You're also not going to be able to use hoses without a restricter trigger at the end.  So, tell your local groundkeeper/landscaper that they need to comply with these or face hefty fines. 

posted 06/11/08 at 12:49 PM

 

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