In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom called on Californians to voluntarily reduce their water use by 15 percent “through simple actions such as reducing landscape irrigation, running dishwashers and washing machines only when full, finding and fixing leaks, installing water-efficient showerheads and taking shorter showers.”
Turns out those suggestions weren’t enough, especially in San Diego.
Today local lawmakers toured the Kern Water Bank to see drought impact firsthand.
$50 million from the state budget is going to fund Assembly Bill 252, which calls for land repurposing all to focus on the drought and getting water flow back to where it matters.
During drought, it’s imore important than ever to conserve water used for irrigation. When you follow just a few smart landscaping irrigation tips, you can get the most from every drop of water applied to your landscaping.
So Southern Californians didn’t decrease their water usage in July, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for a voluntary 15% cutback?
Well, of course not. The dusty lake beds, the dry spigots, the serious water-use cutback orders and the most frightening wildfires (so far, anyway) have been in Northern California, and that’s where Newsom focused his most dire warnings. He declared a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties in April, expanded it to 41 counties in May, and then to 50 counties in July — but not Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside or San Bernardino counties. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California warned of unprecedented shortages in Lake Mead and has launched an advertising campaign calling for increased conservation. But the MWD is the victim of its own success, in that it has done a superb job over the decades supplying enough water so that residents generally don’t think about shortages.
On the bone-dry western flank of Arizona, where the Colorado River Basin meets the Mojave Desert, sit 11,000 acres of alfalfa, sorghum, wheat, and Sudan grass belonging to the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT), all destined to be harvested and sold for animal feed. For anything to grow here, irrigation is a must. Less than a quarter inch of rain has fallen so far this year, according to Josh Moore, who manages the farm on behalf of his tribe.
During drought, it’s more important than ever to conserve water used for irrigation. When you follow just a few smart landscaping irrigation tips, you can get the most from every drop of water applied to your landscaping.
Don’t allow your sprinklers to overspray your landscaping and waste water. Photo: Wikimedia
Watch your irrigation while the system is running. Check to make sure sprinkler heads aren’t spraying water onto sidewalks, patios, or structures.
If water is being applied too fast for your soil to absorb, runoff will occur. This needs to be prevented.
Puddling and pooling water may be an indication your water is being applied too fast or too often. Adjust your system until this isn’t happening anymore.
Repairs to broken pipes and sprinkler heads should be made immediately, or your system should be turned off until those repairs can be made.
Watch how quickly runoff happens when running irrigation. This is the maximum run time for your irrigation controller in a particular hydrozone.
Divide the total irrigation minutes recommended for the specific hydrozone condition into shorter blocks of time before runoff starts. For example, if you should irrigate for 15 minutes but runoff starts within five minutes, irrigate in three five-minute cycles. Allow a 30-minute rest period in between irrigation cycles.
Hand watering can be an effective method to water your landscaping. Photo: Ryan McGuire / Pixabay
Hand watering is especially good when your garden is getting established. You can spend more time watching your plants to be sure they are flourishing in the early stages.
When your landscape plants are new, you may need to water more frequently because roots are shallower. Roots on a newly planted one-gallon plant are only four to ten inches deep. This is why it’s a smart idea to plant during the rainy season.
Before hand watering, look at your plants. Do they appear droopy? Is the soil very dry? If so, give the plants a good drink. Don’t water more than two days in a row. Let the soil dry out completely before watering again. Overwatering and underwater symptoms can be similar.
Once your plants are established after the first year, your sustainable garden will not need watering more than once or twice a month – if at all. Stop watering after the first seasonal rains begin and let nature take over.
This article is part of a year-long series inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.
As drought conditions persist throughout the Southwest, the San Diego County Water Authority and its member agencies continue to actively support the state’s call for a 15% voluntary reduction in water use.
San Diego County residents and businesses can continue WaterSmart practices this fall by following these simple and easy tips to save water.
Months after Governor Gavin Newsom asked Californians to voluntarily cut back on their water use during this severe drought, much of the state is missing the mark.
While the initial data is limited, the Southern California region has so far managed to cut its water consumption by just a tenth of a percent.
Despite an appeal by Gov. Gavin Newsom for all Californians to voluntarily cut water use by 15%, Southern California has lagged in conservation efforts and even increased water consumption slightly in Los Angeles and San Diego, according to newly released data.
More than two months after Newsom stood by a depleted reservoir in San Luis Obispo County to make his plea, figures released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board show that conservation efforts have varied widely from north to south.
Human-caused climate change has intensified the withering drought gripping the Southwestern United States, the region’s most severe on record, with precipitation at the lowest 20-month level documented since 1895, a U.S. government report said on Tuesday.
Over the same period, from January 2020 through August 2021, the region also experienced the third-highest daily average temperatures measured since record-keeping began near the end of the 19th century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) drought task force
