When talking about the importance of water conservation, watering the lawn is something that’s bound to come up. According to the 2015 publication “Water Conservation by the Yard” from the Texas Living Waters Project, “Outdoor water use, particularly lawn watering, accounts for almost one third of annual residential water use in Texas.” That’s a lot of water!
Reducing water use in your yard can cut lawn care costs and help the environment. In addition, water conservation is often a necessity during the hot, dry parts of the year. Here in north Texas, we often have water shortages during the summer that require cutting back on water used in lawn irrigation. Even if there aren’t water shortages, it’s still common sense not to waste water by watering more than you need to and having it run off the lawn.
But if you want a green, healthy lawn then the grass needs water. How do you make sure the lawn is getting enough water to keep your yard looking nice while also cutting back on the water used in irrigation?
Water Wisely
Probably the simplest tip for sustainable water use is to change when and how you water. Water early in the morning to minimize water loss through evaporation. Also, water just once a week and only enough to give the lawn one inch of water per week. If it rained that week, water enough to get up to one inch, and if your yard received more than one inch of rain, skip watering that week.
If you’ve got a sprinkler system that runs later in the day, then changing the settings to run early in the morning once a week will help with water conservation. It also makes your grass healthier and better able to survive a drought. Deep, less frequent watering encourages stronger root systems for your grass.
Change Irrigation Equipment
When you’re installing or updating an irrigation system, modern water-efficient equipment can make a big difference in how much water you use. This can lower the water bill as well as improve water conservation.
Installing efficient sprinkler heads, nozzles, and controllers and regularly checking for leaks dramatically improves the sustainability of an irrigation system. You can even get smart irrigation control systems that sync with local weather data to make sure the irrigation system only runs if there’s no rainfall.
Drip irrigation is the most efficient way to irrigate. It might not be possible in all lawns, however, since the drip lines for a lawn are installed below the ground’s surface. If you’re curious if drip irrigation would work for your lawn, contact a local landscaping company that offers subsurface irrigation installation.
Rethink Irrigation Layout
When you’re updating the irrigation equipment, make sure you also reevaluate the layout of the irrigation system. If you’ve had your system for a while, then it might not line up with how your yard looks now. For example, landscape redesigns might mean that you’re watering a part of the yard that’s newly paved or that a sprinkler head is trapped under a shrub.
If you’ve made changes to the yard layout since installing the irrigation system, change the system layout as needed to reflect the new changes. Ideally, your irrigation system should only be watering the lawn. Any water falling on paved areas is just wasted. If you need to water any of the landscape beds, install drip irrigation for the most water-efficient solution.
Less Lawn, More Xeriscaping
You don’t need to get rid of your lawn to make sustainable changes in how you use water. But if you want to dramatically reduce the amount of water you’re using, then you might consider replacing at least part of the lawn with water-efficient landscaping, or xeriscaping.
Xeriscaping is a landscaping style that minimizes water use. It’s also usually a low-maintenance type of landscape. Xeriscapes use plants that are well-adapted to the natural growing conditions in your area and don’t need much extra help to thrive in your yard. If you want to reduce your yard’s long-term water use and cut back on maintenance, and you don’t use the lawn much for things like entertaining or play areas for pets and children, then xeriscaping might be a good option for you.
Drought-Tolerant Grass
If you are planting a new lawn or need to repair an old lawn, make sure you plant drought-tolerant grass. Of the warm-season grasses that grow well in Texas lawns, Bermuda grass is the most drought resistant. It’s also fast-growing and stands up to foot traffic well. Zoysia grass is another drought-tolerant grass. It grows slowly, so you don’t need to mow as frequently. Zoysia is more cold-tolerant than Bermuda grass, so it may be a better choice for northern Texas.
Whatever grass you have in your yard, you can make it more drought-resistant by increasing the cutting height on your mower. Letting the grass grow a little taller makes the roots grow a little deeper. That increases the grass’s ability to resist drought. Even when there isn’t a drought, lawns mowed higher need less water to stay green.
Conclusion
According to University of Texas Arlington, across the United States, “estimates indicate that the land area cultivated with turf grass is up to three times larger than that of corn, the largest irrigated crop.” That’s a massive amount of water going into keeping grass green. We can all help cut back on that to make lawn care more cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Watering just once a week, and only as much as the lawn needs, will make a huge impact. If you’re able to redesign your irrigation system or want to alter your landscaping, then there’s the potential to save even more water. And if you’re designing a new lawn and landscape, keep water conservation in mind when picking grass types and laying out the yard.
