Free Water

Bias For Action receives regular emails from Cathy Rymer, the Town Water Conservation Specialist, and the most recent one seems particularly appropriate after the last storm. She writes:

Ahhh...the smell of rain. Besides making the air smell fresh, it always makes plants look greener and brighter. Rainwater is a clean, salt-free source of water that contains many beneficial ingredients for plants. Rain can contain sulfur, potash, several other minerals and even microorganisms, all of which provide a boost to plant growth. Plus all this rain water is FREE!! If we receive enough rain, automatic irrigation and sprinkler cycles can be postponed for a few days or longer.

She attached an article with tips on turning off sprinklers and other helpful hints. One of the surprising statistics in the article is that we typically use more water when we use timers than if we water by hand. We overwater because we don't really understand how much or how little is needed. For tips on setting your timers for the proper time, check out the town's site at http://www.ci.gilbert.az.us/water/popups/guidelines.cfm or request a free copy of Landscape Watering by the Numbers by calling 480-503-6098.

The article also had some good advice in view of our brief power outage:

Remember that if you have experienced a power outage your irrigation clock may need to be re-programmed. Some irrigation clocks have a battery back-up that will hold your programs until power is restored, others do not. If yours doesn’t have a battery, or if the battery is dead, the timer’s default program takes over if power is lost. It will run every station for 10 minutes every day which will hopefully keep your plants alive until you reset it. It’s a good idea to replace the battery once each year.

Timely, and helpful.