Stewardship Tip April 28th, 2009 – Lawn Irrigation
Here are three tips to help you conserve water when you irrigate your lawn.
Check: If you have an irrigation system, check and repair all leaks. Replace any broken or damaged sprinkler heads. Adjust all the heads so that they direct their output onto the lawn rather than onto the street or the sidewalk. If you use a hose and a sprinkler, check the washers on the hose and the sprinkler to ensure that they form a watertight seal. Check the hose and make sure that there are no leaks. Also, check your faucets and repair any leaky fixtures.
Calculate: Determine the output of your irrigation system or sprinkler. Place five small cans in the area that you are watering. Water the area for thirty minutes, then measure the amount you’ve collected. If you collect 0.5, 0.6, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.5 inches in your cans, your total will be 2.5 inches of water. Divide 2.5 by five, your system will output one half of an inch of water in thirty minutes.
Measure: Measure how deep the moisture is penetrating the soil. Press a long, steel stake into the soil until you feel resistance against dry soil. Mark this spot on the stake, remove it, and measure from the business end to your mark. This will be the depth of moisture penetration.
Ideally, you want to irrigate your lawn so that the water penetrates to a level of about six inches (it should, however, be to the depth of the root zone). Assume the stake indicates that moisture has penetrated four inches of soil, you now have two points that you can correlate. Firstly, you know that your irrigation system or sprinkler will penetrate four inches of soil in 30 minutes. To get to six inches, you’ll have to water for 45 minutes. Secondly, you know how deep one half inch of precipitation will penetrate your soil. If you receive three quarters of an inch of rain, you have a pretty good idea that the moisture has penetrated the soil to six inches.
Keep a log of your irrigation practices and the amount of rainfall that you receive. Measure the moisture penetration after irrigating or receiving precipitation. Correlate the results. This will provide you with data that you can use to fine tune, and reduce, the amount of water that you use to irrigate your lawn. You will conserve water by irrigating less frequently and applying the right amount of water.
Why it is important to the fish: Frank Fisher, a retired biologist for California Department of Fish and Game, documented a direct correlation between increases in exports of water from the Sacramento River Delta and the decline of Sacramento River salmon. His research was largely ignored in 1992. Today, scientists from the National Marine Fisheries Service have reaffirmed Mr. Fisher’s research. They have concluded that diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are adversely affecting the populations salmon, sturgeon, and the southern killer whale. The situation is dire. The Pacific Fishery Management Council has canceled the 2009 commercial chinook salmon season.
Water for domestic use comes from many sources including diversions. Exporting water via a diversion from a distant watershed to a metropolitan area is an expensive way to grow grass; it extracts a tremendous toll on our fish. Reducing your irrigation requirements is a good place to start when you are looking to conserve water in the home. Check your system, calculate your usage, and measure the depth of moisture penetration. Help to conserve water for our fish by conserving water in your home.
This week’s sponsor-partner: Goodshop.com
When you shop online – whether it’s for outdoor gear, office supplies, or a new pair of shoes – you can support Recycled Fish with two easy clicks. Just go to GoodShop.com, choose Recycled Fish as your charity, then choose from the hundreds of online stores (virtually all of the major retailers). Easy. A percentage is donated to our cause, and it doesn’t cost you a penny.
GoodShop.com’s partnership makes this week’s “Stewardship Tip” possible.
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