Over 40% of Albuquerque homeowners use evaporative coolers, while the rest use some type of refrigerated air system. Today’s evaporative coolers (also known as swamp coolers) provide a practical, energy-efficient way to cool air in the low humidity climates found throughout New Mexico. Evaporative cooling isn’t a new concept. In fact, it’s the oldest known method of cooling hot, summer air to make living spaces more comfortable. Ancient Egyptians hung wet material so the wind could blow through it to create a cooling effect. In an evaporative cooler, warm air is cooled as it passes through porous pads that are kept moist by water dripping on their upper edges. A blower wheel pulls outside air through the wet pad, and the cool, humidified air is then circulated through the house. In the process of cooling the air, evaporative coolers provide an additional benefit of removing dust and pollen that can cause allergies and asthma attacks.
Evaporative coolers are very effective, particularly when the relative humidity (the moisture content of the air) is low. An evaporative cooler works best during the hottest time of the day, because relative humidity drops quickly as temperature increases. Studies show that a typical evaporative cooler uses only about one-third the energy of a refrigerated air conditioner,
The big question is how much water do swamp coolers use? Water requirements for an evaporative cooler will vary with the size of the house, its orientation toward the sun, window area, type of landscaping, proximity to hard surfaces and other structures, temperature preferences of the occupants, local climate, how many hours the cooler runs, and water quality.
In an average weather year, a 1,500-square-foot home in Albuquerque might use 7,250 gallons (based on the evaporative cooler running 1,130 hours). In an unusually warm year, these water requirements would be significantly higher. Virtually all models of evaporative coolers now available recirculate the water that drips from the pads, resulting in an efficient use of water. (Older, less water-efficient evaporative coolers might not have a pan to catch and recirculate water. If so, excess water shall be directed to plant material. Or replace the old cooler with a recirculating one.)
Some coolers have a “bleed-off valve” to drain a portion of the recirculating water to prevent excessive mineral buildup on the porous pads. Bleed-off water can increase overall evaporative cooler water use by 50% or more, which could increase total evaporative cooler water use to 11,000 gallons in Albuquerque. A more water efficient alternative to continual bleed-off is a “dump pump,” which empties the cooler pan at regular intervals to reduce mineral buildup.
Waterwise Tips for Evaporative Coolers
Instead of turning on your cooler when it’s 79 degrees outside, wait until it is 85 degrees. Your cooler will use 50% less water.
Turn on the water pump a few minutes before turning on the fan to give the cooler pads a chance to become saturated.
Open a window 1-2 inches in the rooms you want to cool. This will draw cool air into the rooms and give warm air a chance to escape.
In the evenings or when it’s not quite so hot outside, run your cooler fan without running the water pump. You’ll get nice, cooling airflow without using any water at all!
Also run just the fan on rainy and high humidity days when your evaporative cooler is significantly less efficient.
To keep your cooler from wasting water, check it for leaks monthly during the summer season. Take a look at its filters, pads, pump and reservoir. Replace your cooler pads at least once every summer, preferably twice — or aim to clean them with soap and water.
Install a digital thermostat. Digital thermostats allow you to use much less water than you would otherwise because once your home gets to your desired temperature, it will automatically shut off.
Additional tips to keep your home cool, harvest water and reduce energy use
Direct any water from a refrigerated air conditioner or mini split condenser toward plants.
Servicing your refrigerated air conditioner by performing general maintenance such as replacing or cleaning air filters can lower energy consumption by up to 15%. Add a calendar reminder for the first day of spring to check your air conditioner’s evaporator coil. This should be cleaned annually to ensure the system is performing optimally.
Cooling your home with ceiling fans will allow you to comfortably raise your thermostat 4 about degrees. In the summer, fans should turn counterclockwise so air pushes downward, circulating the cooler air in the room and making the home feel cooler. Make sure to turn off ceiling fans when house is empty.
Window treatments or coverings such as blinds, shades and films can help reduce the heat when temperatures rise. Close blinds and curtains on the East, West and South sides when nobody is home to keep the sun from heating up the house.
Air loss through ducts can lead to high energy costs, accounting for nearly 30% of a cooling system’s energy consumption. By sealing and insulating your ducts, you can lower your energy bills.
Avoid using heat-producing appliances like clothes dryers, dishwashers, stoves and ovens during the hottest part of the day. Use your grill for cooking and hang dry your clothes.
Learn more by checking out these other useful articles:
Information courtesy of the Water Use and Conservation Bureau, New Mexico Office of the State Engineer. Additional tips courtesy of PNM. Have a question about the article or anything else? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
Mosquitoes have been so very prominent here in the Albuquerque area over the last five years, and we’ve been learning a lot about how to live with them in our yards. Fortunately, Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque have been studying mosquito lifecycles, treatment and abatement for years.
There are three types of mosquitoes found in our area, including the Aedes vexans (floodwater mosquito) and the Culex quinquefasciatus (southern house mosquito). Additionally, the Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito) has become firmly established in the Albuquerque area in recent years.
All these species are well adapted to the local environment, but they differ significantly in behavior, feeding habits and the types of risks they pose. Southern house mosquitoes primarily feed on birds but will bite humans and domestic animals. They are active at night and during dawn and dusk.
Floodwater mosquitoes prefer to host on humans, livestock and pets. They are highly aggressive and notorious for biting during the evening and nighttime hours. Floodwater mosquitoes are a nuisance because of their painful and frequent bites but not commonly associated with disease.
Floodwater Mosquito
Yellow fever mosquitoes are specifically human-focused biters that actively hunt during the daytime. They are easily recognized by the distinct white, violin-shaped markings on their back and striped bands on their legs. They are the primary transmitters of critical mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika, dengue fever and yellow fever. These diseases have not been found in the greater Albuquerque area and City-County prevention is underway to keep it that way. To learn more about the yellow fever mosquito, check out this useful flyer.
Yellow Fever Mosquito
Local mosquito control is conducted as a combined city-county effort. Mosquitoes are controlled at all life stages through a variety of methods, following the principles of integrated pest management. The goal is effective and efficient control designed to minimize the amount of pesticide released in the environment and to prevent pesticide resistance. Protecting public health and ensuring that outdoor activities can be enjoyed safely and comfortably is the City-County partnerships underlying mission.
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County residents can report mosquito issues by calling 311.
Residents who don't wish to have their property sprayed can register on the No-Spray List by calling 311.
The most important things you can do are reducing mosquito breeding habitat and preventing mosquito bites as per City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department.
What you can do
Prevent mosquito breeding on your property
Dump standing water found in trays beneath potted plants; used tires; trash, discarded buckets and other containers; children’s toys; and other places.
Store containers that could hold water upside down.
Keep your property uncluttered — mosquitoes can breed in the smallest pools of water even as small as a bottle cap.
Clean pet water dishes regularly by emptying, scrubbing and replacing the water.
Replace bird bath water regularly.
Cover rain barrels with a fine mesh and treat with mosquito dunks. Mosquito dunks contain bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti). Bti is a naturally occurring bacterium found in soils. It contains spores that produce toxins that specifically target the larvae of the mosquito. Bti has no toxicity to people and is approved for pest control in organic farming operations. It has been well tested and based on the studies EPA has concluded that Bti does not pose a risk to humans. The Bti mosquito dunks are sold at hardware, home improvement, and feed supply stores. They can be placed in standing water, and the bacteria will kill mosquito larvae.
Treat pools with chlorine. If not in use, keep empty or treat with mosquito dunks
Reduce moist collection areas in your grass lawn as mosquitos like to bread in these small moist spaces. Aim to space your sprinkler watering out so the wet areas dry up between irrigation days.
Add mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis, to ponds and small water features (available free from the City of Albuquerque by calling 311).
Check flat roofs for pockets of water in shaded areas and clogged rain gutters.
Prevent mosquitoes from entering your home
Keep door and window screens in good condition.
Check window screens and doors for holes and repair any holes with sticky screen tape.
Protect yourself when outdoors
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved insect repellents include those containing DEET, picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus.
Wear long sleeves and long pants, especially at dusk and dawn.
Report standing water and high adult populations to 311
Other home strategies
Set out mosquito traps to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard or home. BG-sentinel traps use dry ice (which can be bought at a grocery store) and/or a scent bait to attract mosquitoes and are very effective. The City uses BG-Sentinel traps when conducting mosquito surveillance. Ovitraps can be used to attract females that are ready to lay their eggs. It is important to maintain ovitraps by adding a mosquito dunk or they will become breeding habitat.
Repel mosquitoes with smell: Mosquitoes rely heavily on their sense of smell to locate their next meal. They are attracted to certain odors, such as carbon dioxide from our breath and lactic acid from our skin. Mosquitoes hate strong, pungent and herbaceous scents that mask the carbon dioxide and lactic acid humans emit. These can be distributed as sprays, diffused as essential oils or the plants can be crushed and rubbed onto your skin for a natural repellent. The smells they don’t like include:
Lemon eucalyptus: Approved by CDC and World Health Organization, it is recognized as one of the most effective natural deterrents. It contains PMD(p-menthane-3,8-diol) which is extracted from the leaves of a lemon eucalyptus tree. This scent is known to block mosquitoes from detecting you.
Citronella: The classic lemon-grass scent disrupts a mosquito's ability to find hosts.
Peppermint and menthol: The intense smell of mint can overpower their sensory receptors.
Lavender: Contains compounds like linalool that deter pests.
Citrus: Citrus smells, such as those from lemons, oranges and grapefruits, are highly effective at repelling mosquitoes. You could place citrus peels in strategic locations to deter mosquitoes from coming too close.
Rosemary: Rosemary is another herb that mosquitoes dislike. Plant rosemary bushes near outdoor seating areas then crush the leaves to release the smells and oils.
Basil: Crush fresh basil leaves to release their scent.
Garlic: Create a garlic spray by mixing crushed garlic cloves with water.
Lemon balm: Rub crushed lemon balm leaves on your skin for added protection.
Catnip: Catnip contains a compound called nepetalactone, which is highly effective at repelling mosquitoes. Plant catnip in pots or in your garden or crush the leaves and rub them on your skin for a natural repellent.
Create DIY sprays: One of the easiest ways to use essential oils for mosquito control is by creating a DIY spray.
Combine:
2 ounces of distilled water
1.5 ounces of witch hazel
30-40 drops of essential oils (Mix and match based on your preferences; effective options include citronella, lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemongrass and tea tree.)
Repel mosquitos with smoke: Incense sticks and smudge sticks have been used around town by local restaurants and in yards with some success.
Repel mosquitos with a fan. The breeze of an outdoor fan can make it harder to trace the scents and harder for them to fly near the fan.
Schedule a yard audit: According to a recent KRQE interview with City of Albuquerque Urban Biology Division Manager Nick Pederson, the city can help residents reduce mosquitoes on private property by performing an inspection. “We like to offer what we call a yard audit or a yard inspection where we’ll come out and actually look at a person’s yard with them and see if we can identify possible sources of mosquito issues,” Pederson said, explaining that these inspections can be requested by contacting 311.
Folks, it’s a hot, dry summer here in central New Mexico. No surprise, you say — we live in a desert. Even for our location, though, it’s hot and dry. This creates a little conundrum for us: keeping our landscape plants growing while using water efficiently.
Tree and surrounding plants being watered by inline drip irrigation.
This applies especially to trees because as large plants with lots of leaves, they need regular adequate water for their size and species to remain happy and continue creating positive benefits for your yard and the city as a whole. Call that a biological law and reality. As temperatures go up, trees’ water demand goes up. That is a good starting point to keep in mind — in times of drought, you should water your trees a little more frequently than you would in a year with abundant rainfall.
Drought stressed tree showing missing leaves and yellowing.
It turns out that over 90% of the water that comes into a tree simply escapes through the leaves as water vapor; the tree keeps very little water inside to grow. This loss of water vapor provides the “suction” that causes more water to enter the root system. It also cools the leaves and keeps them within comfortable working temperatures. Someone once said trees (and plants generally) have figured out a way to guide the natural movement of water from soil to atmosphere, channeling it through their bodies and using it to grow and function, which is one part of the water cycle. Having trees increases moisture in the air, allowing your swamp cooler to perform better.
Trees “drink” very differently than you and I. We have one fairly large mouth into which all the water goes. However much we need, we have one target to hit in order to drink that water. Trees, on the other hand, take water in through their tiny, young roots out in the soil. Water has to get to a lot of soil in order to hit enough of those “mouths” to matter. A lot of tree irrigation eventually fails because there are only a few emitters (and those are often too close to the trunk). Those few emitters cannot put out enough water to satisfy the tree’s demand, nor do they wet enough surface area. (See examples in the photos below.)
Drip emitters located very close to the tree trunk.
What matters to a tree is the volume of water it has to work with. That volume is entirely dictated by the volume of soil that is holding water. And THAT volume is dictated by the surface area that received and absorbed water. The key is to disperse the water throughout the main root zone and do it in a way that allows the water to soak in where applied and not flow to low spots on the ground (which often are gutters. Science has found that most tree roots are located within the top three feet of the soil surface and quite likely even more shallow in landscapes that have not been deeply irrigated for the life of the tree, which is a common condition in Albuquerque.
To properly water your trees, you will need some sort of irrigation system. It could be a bucket you fill from the sink or a state-of-the-art sensor-controlled automated drip system. But somehow you need to put water on the soil surface in a slow, controlled manner so that it can soak into the soil where it is applied. While buckets and hoses work, their simplicity makes them very labor intensive. In-line emitter drip tubing, laid out in a spiral or concentric circles, does a much better job. Once in place, these drip systems can be set to run for two to four hours at a time, about once a week during the hottest part of the year and less often during other seasons. Irrigation improvements qualify for the Water Authority Treebate. See our rebates here.
The ideal target area to irrigate is both theoretical and grounded to the reality of the site. Imagine a donut shaped area centered around the tree trunk. The trunk sits in the center of the donut hole. The body of the donut begins halfway between the trunk and the edge of the branch canopy and extends some distance beyond the edge of the canopy. This theoretical donut represents the ideal critical irrigation zone.
Now enters site reality — maybe there is a house or driveway or sidewalk covering part of the donut (or all three, with the tree located in a tiny unpaved space). We don’t want to encourage root growth at the house foundation, so don’t water within a couple of feet of it. Similarly, where concrete or asphalt covers the soil, root growth is moisture-limited and concentrated immediately under the impervious cover and under any planned or accidental cracks that allow rainwater to slip through. Ideally, we don’t want to water next to the pavement. The more of the donut that is unavailable for watering, the more often you may need to water the limited areas of open soil. Even so, it may simply not be enough soil volume to support the tree, which will then decline. In that case, replace it with a nice xeric shrub!
Recently installed drip tubing around a newly planted Mexican elder and some to-be-planted fennel. Both of those plants are excellent pollinator forage. A 4-inch depth of wood chip mulch will be installed over the top.
One of our favorite things to do at Bennu Organics is design container gardens. We like to talk about the “wow factor,” and containers are a fantastic way to add stunning, season-long color to our landscapes without digging a single hole in our hard, unforgiving soil.
Here are six helpful hints for creating your own successful container designs:
1) Location: Will the containers be in full sun, partial sun or full shade? In most cases, full sun containers in New Mexico require daily watering. If you don’t want to water every day, consider selecting plants that require less water, like succulents, cacti or perennials. Placing containers in partial shade will also save water. It’s important to know the amount of sunlight you will have available for each container prior to purchasing plants.
2) Size: What size are the containers, or what size do you want them to be if you’re purchasing them? You’ll need plenty of soil to fill or refresh the containers, and you want to make sure you have enough plant material to give your containers a nice, full look.
3) Design: Well-designed containers require three types of plants: thrillers, fillers and spillers. The thriller is something tall and showy, while fillers are shorter plants that fill in the spaces. Spillers are those low vining-type plants that spill gracefully over the sides of the container.
4) Color theme: I like picking a color palette and then selecting different plants within that palette. I don’t want my containers to be identical, but I do want them to complement each other. Also, depending on the locations of the containers, I will often do a “mirror image” design if the containers are on either side of an entry way, for example.
5) Lighting and water: Select plants that have similar lighting and water requirements. You don’t want to put a cactus as a thriller and wave petunias as your filler. One or both will suffer from too much or a lack of water.
6) Maintenance: Besides watering consistently, you will want to trim and deadhead your designs frequently. Petunias and calibrachoa (classified both as fillers and spillers) need regular deadheading to keep the blooms going strong. Trim them heavily when they get “leggy.” They respond well to a really good haircut. If you are consistent with your maintenance and watering, the containers should keep their “wow factor” all season long. Also, regular fertilizing is crucial to maintaining season-long blooms. In the active growing season, we fertilize our containers every two weeks.
While the following list of possible plants you can use in containers is hardly comprehensive, it should help get your creative juices flowing:
Shade/Part Shade
Thrillers: caladium, alocasia, sansevieria/dracaena, colocasia, cordyline, etc.
Fillers: bacopa, begonias, Boston fern, caladium, coleus, begonias, dusty miller, impatiens, etc.
Finally, your container designs should bring you joy, so get creative! What do you love? What are your goals? Do you want to attract hummingbirds and butterflies? Do you want fragrance? Do you want a color explosion, or are you looking for something more subdued? Your containers should reflect their designer, so pick things that you really enjoy — not just the plants you see on Pinterest or in magazines, although if you love the ones you see in those places, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Some people like to use all annuals, some like a combination of annuals and perennials and some even add edible plants into their designs. The sky is the limit!
As with all things related to plants, design and gardening, remember that everything we do is a grand experiment. Don’t feel guilty if you mistakenly combine a low-water plant and a high-water plant in the same container and one of them dies. Learn from your experience and simply replace the dead plant with something more suitable.
Your irrigation system is only as good as its aim. Adjust sprinklers and emitters to make sure they are delivering water to the landscape and not onto rocks, bare earth or pavement.
June is a great time to check and replace any clogged spray nozzles or drip emitters. Remember, each spray head also has its own filter insert that needs checked as well.
Watering Recommendations: Summer is here and so are hotter temperatures! Follow the Water by the Seasons Summer watering recommendations to keep your yard looking healthy. For turf, water 2-3 times per week. Start watering your trees and shrubs 1 time per week to keep them looking good.
Remember, if it rains more than a half inch you can skip your next scheduled watering as there is no need for supplemental irrigation.
Floodwater Mosquito
Yellow Fever Mosquito
