Once you’ve finalized your plans for a water-saving landscape, you’ll have some demolition work ahead of you, including the existing turf you plan to remove or replace.
Removing turf presents choices about the best way to accomplish this task. Learn more about turf removal options and understand the steps before you begin.
Reclaiming an area of unwanted turf requires diligence.
Lake Siskiyou is beautiful this time of year.
About 200 miles north of Sacramento, the artificial reservoir — formed by a dam on the Sacramento River — is ringed by quiet beaches that offer a cool respite from triple-digit heat. The views of Mt. Shasta are spectacular. When I visited last week, I saw double-crested cormorants, ospreys and great blue herons soaring over the water and ducklings swimming with their mother.
In his time at the California State Water Resources Control Board, Max Gomberg has witnessed the state grapple with two devastating droughts and the accelerating effects of climate change.
Now, after 10 years of recommending strategies for making California more water resilient, the board’s climate and conservation manager is calling it quits. The reason: He no longer believes Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration are willing to pursue the sorts of transformational changes necessary in an age of growing aridification.
Local farmers may soon be forced to bite the bullet and find ways to use significantly less water in 2023 — potentially for a lot longer.
This drastic measure may come as a result of an emergency water conservation effort to prevent further depletion of the Valley’s main source of water, the Colorado River. If less water flows down the Colorado River, the consequences could be catastrophic for the two reservoirs — lakes Mead and Powell — that feed into the so-called basin states.
For example, if water levels in Lake Mead continue dropping, it could bring water and hydropower to a grinding halt, all due to a relentless drought over two decades.
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recently announced that Helix Water District is the recipient of a distinguished budget presentation award for its fiscal year 2022-23 budget document.
“This award shows the commitment by the district’s board of directors and staff to serving the public with integrity, fiscal accountability, and transparency,” said Kathleen Hedberg, Helix Water District’s board president. “Our budget is well organized and easy to read. We want customers to easily see what we are doing, how we are efficient and how we keep our operating costs steady.”
Chula Vista homeowners Bryan and Denee Felber earned “Best in District” honors as the winner of the Otay Water District’s 2022 WaterSmart Landscape Contest. Converting 2,143 square feet of turf to a drought-tolerant garden in 2015 continues to save water and pay off for the Felbers while beautifying their neighborhood.
When Elana O’Brien decided to eliminate the front lawn outside her Pasadena home, she had three goals: water conservation, increased privacy and a view more natural than a city street and the seasonal decorations in her neighbor’s yard.
Smothering her 850-square-foot lawn with cardboard and mulch — a.k.a. sheet mulching — wasn’t enough, O’Brien said. She wanted to add some height and contour to her yard, and she found the answer with — literally — a lot of sticks and stones, using a process known as hugelkultur.
NASA recently released startling satellite images of Lake Mead, which the agency notes is now at its lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time.
A measurement taken on July 18 put Lake Mead at just 27% of capacity. That effect you see in the image above — with the lighter color on the cliffs where the water level once was — is known as the “bathtub ring.”
The Salton Sea Independent Review Panel has 3 viable ideas to restore the Salton Sea.
In a press release, the Independent Review Panel announced that there were 18 concepts submitted through “Request for Ideas” in 2017 and 2021. Of those 18 ideas, three made it to the top of the list. And one is to import water from the Sea of Cortez, a large body of water in Mexico.
State Fish and Wildlife Department officials have awarded a $1 million grant to the San Diego Association of Governments for planning the restoration of the Buena Vista Lagoon at the Oceanside-Carlsbad border.
The $1 million announced last month comes on top of $3 million the state Wildlife Conservation Board awarded in December to SANDAG, which oversees planning and contracting for the proposed cleanup of the stagnant 220-acre lagoon.
