nt. In its eighth year, The Thom Hartmann Program airs live daily, NOON – 3pm, ET simulcast as both radio and TV on over 120 radio stations. into more than 50 million homes via both nationwide satellite TV systems (DirecTV and Dish Network). Save Water
| 02 September 2010
Save Money
Interested in saving money on your water bills while having a lower impact on the environment? One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to stick to a reliable irrigation schedule.
Rain is just one factor that is used to determine irrigation needs. A factor less understood is the length of day. Longer days not only produce warmer seasonal temperatures, they also increase transpiration (water loss) from plant leaves and evaporation from the soil – The more sun, the more water loss. Now that September is here, and the days are shortening, you should be able to begin reducing your irrigation. You may also notice the evenings beginning to cool. A reliable irrigation schedule will help you through the maize of watering needs, because consideration for water demand is already factored into the schedule. For San Luis Obispo and South County, the following link will lead you to a year-round schedule you can download and print: http://www.slocity.org/utilities/savewater.asp
A schedule for North County can be downloaded at the following link:
http://templetoncsd.org/Library/Conservation/watering_schedule.pdf
Looking closely at the schedules, you will notice that beginning about mid November. The cooler weather and occasional rains should be enough to sustain your landscape, with practically no additional irrigation! Rainy season dry spells that last for a few weeks may require that you water lawns for a total of only 5 minutes per week, otherwise, you should find that your landscape requires no supplemental water at all.