Cover the pool

If you’re fortunate enough to have a backyard pool, make sure the water stays in it instead of evaporating—cover your pool when you’re not using it, even in the summer. 

                 Landscaping changes

Remove your thirsty turf grass and replace it with a beautiful drought-tolerant garden that doesn’t need precious drinking water, or mowing.

                 Timing is important

Water your yard in the morning or evening. Water evaporates quickly when the sun is high, so sprinkle when it’s more likely to stay in the soil. And make sure you’re watering your yard, not the sidewalk or driveway.

A drip irrigation system works better than sprinklers, as it sends targeted amounts of water exactly where you want it.   

                        Car Wash

When washing a car, wet it quickly, then use a bucket of water to wash the car. Turn on the hose to final rinse (or let mother nature wash your car when it rains). Or better yet, use a local car wash, not only will you support a local business, they treat and recycle the water!

                     LOVE your lawn

When mowing your lawn, set the mower blades to 2-3 inches high. Longer grass shades the soil improving moisture retention, has more leaf surface to take in sunlight, allowing it to grow thicker and develop a deeper root system. This helps grass survive drought, tolerate insect damage and fend off disease 

               Kids and plants cool off!

Instead of turning all of your sprinklers on, use a singular sprinkler head of some kind. If you must turn all of your sprinklers on, use a timer to keep it to 10 minutes or less.

Another idea is to change the time your sprinklers are set to go on in the summer from the early morning hours to the late afternoon early evening hours to give the kids a daily time to go for a barefoot run through the sprinklers!

Put the sprinkler over dry patches or near plants that need to be watered.