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Need help to cut watering costs

dae06

Starting Member

Posts: 1

1

Wednesday, August 12th 2015, 11:13am

Need help to cut watering costs

My lot is 38,000 square feet and water 24,000 square feet. I am using Hunter I-20 stainless rotor heads for 8 zones and spray heads for 1 zone. My math shows to get 1" of water over this area I need 15,000 gallons/week. My water costs me $7.50/1000 gallons. At this rate it costs me $112.50/week to water if mother nature does not help me out.
First of all, does this sound correct to you? Second, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can cut the watering back and still keep a nice lawn?

When I installed the irrigation system years ago, our water rate was $2.25/1000 gallons. Since then, my water rates sky rocketed.

I can't afford to keep watering my lawn at this rate. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Edit: I just contacted my city clerk and she informed me that they restructured the water use billing. I am now paying $11.31/1000gallons ;(. So I am now paying $170.00/week for 1" of water for my lawn. That's crazy!!!!!!

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "dae06" (Aug 12th 2015, 1:22pm)

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 2,322

Location: USA

2

Wednesday, August 12th 2015, 7:02pm

Hi, I've never used these but take a look at the video. It might be worth a shot. Maybe do a section of your yard and see how it goes.
Lawn Polymers

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 5,294

Location: Metro NYC

3

Wednesday, August 12th 2015, 9:39pm

Some water rates include sewage fees, which is unfair for those not putting all that water down the drain. A second water meter for the sprinkler system might be had, with a lower rate to follow.

CJAlbertson

New Member

Posts: 5

4

Sunday, May 8th 2016, 6:32pm

Yes you CAN dramatically cut back on the amount of water you use. Here in California we are asked to reduce use by 25% and I'm sure we will have to reduce use even more in the years ahead.

You can cut use by half or more with this two step process:

Step one: evaluate your landscape and see how much grass you can remove and replace with something else. Sometimes removing some makes the over al look more attractive. For example replace that rectangle of green grass with an oval design. You spray it with "round up" then dig it out.

Step two. Replace the sprinkler heads with a subsurface drip system. Basically you burry hoses in many parallel trenches spaced about 12 to 24 inches apart and 4 to 6 inches deep. This completely eliminates over spray and evaporation by inserting water only into the roots at a VERY slow rate. (the rate is determined by the soil type)

With both steps you can get to less than 1/2 the amount of water you are using. There is a high initial cost but with your cost of water you'd get a pretty fast pay back, inside of a year, I'd say.

In my current project we are starting from scratch having just rototiller'd the entire lot so in addition to the above two steps the new grass will be a variety that grows slowly (a genetic dwarf fescue) and uses very little water after it is established. We are hoping to get water use to 75% less over all.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "CJAlbertson" (May 8th 2016, 6:41pm)

SunCoLawns

Advanced Member

Posts: 111

Location: Omaha, Nebraska, USA

5

Thursday, May 12th 2016, 4:51pm

Have you considered landscaping?

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