Since the Albuquerque area receives about 9” of rain on average per year and grass lawns can use up to 50” of water per year, the proper design of an irrigation system for a grass lawn is of utmost importance when it comes to water efficiency. Irrigation efficiency can save up to 30% of the water you use by avoiding water waste.
While the Water Authority does not encourage grass lawns, we understand that some homeowners may want to install new lawns or reduce the size of their existing lawns. If you are going to have a turfgrass lawn, we recommend that it’s a lawn you use and not just maintain for curb appeal. Proper irrigation layout and design are key to having a healthy and water-efficient lawn.
When designing your lawn, keep these tips in mind:
1) Lawns smaller than 10’x 10’ are hard to water with a spray irrigation system.
2) To get the most efficient irrigation coverage, design square and rectangular lawns since sprinkler heads spray in fixed patterns-such as a quarter circle, half circle or full circle-but not curves. If curves are necessary, broad curves have the best chance of being irrigated without over spraying, while zigzag narrow curves are the toughest to irrigate effectively.
3) We recommend using WaterSense Pressure Regulating Spray Sprinkler Bodies.
WaterSense labeled spray sprinkler bodies with internal pressure regulation can reduce water waste by providing a consistent flow at the sprinkler nozzle. When the sprinkler body maintains pressure near its optimal operating pressure, the connected nozzle is better able to generate the right amount of water spray and coverage for a more uniform distribution of water across the landscape. Customers can choose from a list of pre-qualified spray sprinkler bodies.
4) We also recommend using High-Efficiency Rotating Sprinkler Nozzles (multi-stream). These nozzles minimize water waste and feature a unique multi-trajectory rotating stream that delivers water at a steady rate. This slower application allows water to gently soak in at rates that soils can absorb. Use these nozzles to replace the sprinkler head on any conventional spray head body or pop up sprinkler. For more information on these nozzles read this post.
5) Irrigation sprinkler nozzles are designed for 100% overlap of watered areas, which means each sprinkle nozzle throws water to the next sprinkler in all directions. If a system is not built this way, there will be dry spots (see the below image).
Designing, reducing and changing the shape of your lawn doesn’t have to be an expensive project but it can save a lot of water. Visit your favorite local irrigation supply store for professional equipment and expert advice.
Learn more by checking out these other useful irrigation articles:
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA, is a Landscape Architect and owner of My Landscape Coach in Albuquerque, NM. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
So far this winter season precipitation has been 30% below normal for New Mexico. According to the National Weather Service statewide average day temperatures are 56.6 degrees, which is 2.1 degrees above the normal of 54.5.
With that said, we are starting out the year with intensified drought conditions. Your landscape needs more care and attention when we are facing higher temperatures and low precipitation.
Here are a few suggestions for minimizing plant damage and mortality in times of drought:
Water mid-morning (around 10am) with a hose when it is above 40F. This way, water can soak into the ground and be absorbed by plants before the evening’s freezing temperature returns. Disconnect your hose and roll it up to drain after watering.
Don’t prune back shrubs and flowering plants yet. Let any additional plant material act as insulation that helps keep plants protected and, ultimately, healthier.
Top dress planters and beds, or around shrubs and trees, with your leaf litter or a 3” layer of shredded wood chip mulch. This will help insulate and regulate the root zone. By doing this, less water is needed to keep plants healthy.
Watering isn’t always needed in the winter when landscapes are dormant, but in times of drought follow this watering advice to keep plants healthy:
Trees and shrubs: Water plants deeply, trees especially, at least once this month unless we receive more than a half inch of rain or more than 6″ of snow.
Turfgrass: Water your lawn every other week this winter. NMSU conducted research on winter lawn watering and determined that in order to maintain optimal year-round health, your lawn needs to be watered twice a month in the winter.
Evergreens: Conifers are particularly susceptible to wind, which dries them out. Water them deeply a minimum of one time this month, but you’ll want to add about ¼ more water to evergreens than to other trees or shrubs.
Author: Carlos Bustos, Conservation Manager & Richard Perce, Irrigation Efficiency Specialist with the Water Resources Conservation Department for the Water Authority. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
Baby, it’s cold outside. Or is it? How do you water during the cold and dry winter season?
The weather predictions are in, and we are headed into a very dry La Niña winter season. This means we need to water our plants this winter in order to keep them healthy. Due to our freezing temperatures we recommend turning off your irrigation system for the season and using your hose to water once a month during the middle of a warm winter day.
Watering Tips:
For cool season grass lawns, thoroughly water every other week.
For deciduous and evergreen trees, lilacs, photina’s, euonymous, rose of Sharon, spirea and forsynthia, water once a month to 24” deep.
Author: Richard Perce, Irrigation Efficiency Specialist with the Water Conservation Department for the Water Authority. Research: Farmers Almanac, Drought Watch New Mexico State. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
What is a smart irrigation controller and why would you want one as a gift? The Water Authority’s irrigation efficiency specialist Richard Perce says, “While an irrigation controller is a must for your landscape, a smart controller adjusts your watering based on the local weather conditions. This saves you time and water!” Many smart controllers use WiFi and connect to the local weather station. They will not water on days when it’s too windy or it has already rained. Most will also determine what your landscape’s water needs are and create a schedule based on data added during setup and the information it receives from local weather stations. Many also connect to your smartphone or tablet so you have easy control over your system no matter where you are.
Below, Richard has listed some of his favorite controllers for this holiday season. Why not be practical this year for gift giving?
Features: 6 and 12 zone options, inexpensive, connects to local weather stations, easily controlled via your smartphone, can be mounted indoors or outdoors, works with all internet modems (2.4gh and 5gh), long-range Bluetooth radio, can adjust both at the controller and on your phone, easy to use, rebates available.
Features: 8 and 16 zones options, inexpensive, connects to local weather stations, easily controlled by a smartphone, works with all modems, easy to use, robust water schedules based on plant type, soil type, sun exposure, rebates available.
Rainbird ST8-2.0 WiFi Smart Irrigation Timers Features: 8 zones and more, connects to the local weather station, easily controlled at the box and by smartphone, works with all modems, robust watering schedules, fully customizable, rebates available.
Author: Richard Perce, Irrigation Efficiency Specialist with the Water Conservation Department for the Water Authority. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
Did you know that half of Albuquerque homeowners do not have an irrigation system? We’ve been talking to hundreds of homeowners, and it turns out that the reason they haven’t installed one in their yard is they think an irrigation system for a typical lot (1/8 acre or 10,000 sf) will cost $5,000 or more. The good news is this is a myth! The cost for one fully installed irrigation drip system plus a controller/timer is between $1,350 and $1,900. Prices will vary depending on the size of your yard, the complexity of your water connection and if you want to add additional valves for irrigating plants with different watering needs, such as existing mature trees, vegetable beds, container plants or a turf grass lawn.
Here is what a typical irrigation system looks like. Do any of these elements look familiar to you? Perhaps you have a residential backflow preventer in your own yard and didn’t realize it or you thought it didn’t work because you’ve turned on the timer in your garage and nothing happens.
Many homes already have one or a couple of residential backflow preventers in the yard that are no longer in use. A local irrigation contractor usually can get those back up and running and include a new stub out for drip irrigation.
For those homes that don’t have any existing irrigation remnants, you’ll need to start from the beginning. One drip irrigation system is generally all you will need in a desert-friendly xeriscape for a 1/8 acre or smaller yard. Drip irrigation is the recommended method of delivering water to all your plants and trees (but not turf grasses).
You’ll want to install one backflow preventer with one valve to run the drip system in the yard. A ¾” distribution polyline is connected to the valve. The polyline, which winds all around the yard, has ¼” spaghetti tubing connected to it so water gets directly to the plants. Due to our typically high water pressure, most drip irrigation systems require a pressure regulator to slow the water pressure, thereby reducing the chance of the drip emitters getting popped off the line.
Here is a breakdown of the costs:
One automatic residential backflow preventer with valve and pressure regulator with stub out to future dripline. $600-800 installed (includes parts and labor).
¾” dripline polyline connects to the stub out of a new valve or from an existing one and winds around the yard. Add ¼” spaghetti tube with drip flag emitters on the end to water each plant in your yard. $400-600 installed (includes parts and labor).
One automatic irrigation controller/timer (Smart Controller that connects to the Internet and your smartphone). $350-$500 (includes parts and labor) (rebates available)
A regular controller costs $350 (includes parts and labor).
Before hiring an irrigation designer and/or contractor, it’s advisable to ask them specific questions so you can make wise choices about design options and the kind of equipment you need.Click on this link to access a helpful guide put together by the Irrigation Association as developed by Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Adding an irrigation system (especially a drip system) means watering your plants using the least amount of water to provide optimal health. It is making sure that every drop of water you use goes to where it is needed and can be used most effectively by your plants. An irrigation system conserves water, produces a healthier landscape, saves time and is not as costly as you think!
Author: Jill Brown, ASLA. Landscape Architect and Owner of My Landscape Coach The prices quoted here are based on my experience as a landscape professional in the Albuquerque market. Prices will vary, of course, on size, complexity, and availability. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By and large, New Mexican homeowners are getting the all-important message of the arid Southwest: Water is precious, and not to be wasted.
But local experts say an important piece of the story is still often lost when it comes to landscaping: Conserving water doesn’t have to mean a yard consisting of one plant surrounded by gravel.
“We’ve got to go away from that,” said Carlos Bustos, water conservation program manager for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority. “Xeriscapes are luscious, they’re beautiful, they’re abundant, they’re resilient, they’re sustainable. … We hope that 10 years from now we’re not still dealing with the idea of ‘zeroscapes.'”
Solange Serquis, of Santa Fe-based Serquis + Associates Landscape Architecture, agreed.
“I am a big believer that we all deserve aesthetic and beauty,” she said. “When you combine aesthetic and beauty to achieve something else, like passive cooling or low-consumption plants or an invitation to be outdoors, better use of … energy indoors, that’s the main thing.”
Plant selection
According to Jill Brown, a landscape architect and owner of My Landscape Coach, selecting plants tends to be a point in the landscaping process where homeowners get very engaged.
“If I go back and look at the most popular articles, the most popular things, discussions, questions that we’ve received, it’s always about plants,” said Brown, who also provides content for the water utility authority’s landscape website 505 Outside. “So people are really interested in plants and learning about plants and in that aspect of a landscape.”
For several local landscape pros, planting trees tops the list.
“That’s going to provide shade, which is going to reduce your energy bills if you put it … on the south side of the home … or the west side of the home,” Brown said.
Bustos said if a tree is well planned and well-positioned, those energy savings can be significant.
“There’s studies out there that say that if you place a tree strategically where you need to, you can save up to 25% of the energy in a typical household use,” he said, adding that tree shade helps reduce water lost by other plants nearby.
“By creating this microclimate, you can reduce the water need between 6 and 20%,” he said. “It’s always cooler in the shade.”
Serquis says planting trees adds long-term value.
“I always say planting a tree is an act of … citizenship,” she said. “Because you plant that tree today and in maybe 50 years, it’s … a heritage for the neighborhood.”
With trees as well as with smaller plants, Serquis said she’s looking for ways to passively cool living spaces – both indoors and outdoors – and selects varieties that have low water consumption.
When it comes to choosing specific plant varieties, Brown’s got a simple approach.
“Basically native plants that you buy from a local nursery are going to work in your soil,” she said. “That’s like a generalization we like to tell homeowners: Don’t over-stress about your soil. If you buy plants from a local nursery, you’ll be OK.”
Of course, there’s a caveat: Those plants and trees still have to be watered properly.
Irrigation
Brown said data and her own experience suggest that in the universe of homeowners who care about their landscaping, about half use an irrigation system of some kind, and about half are hand-watering.
Those hand-waterers, according to Brown and Bustos, should think about installing an irrigation system.
“Hand-watering is wasteful, because they’re spraying the leaves and … we need to get to the roots,” Brown said.
Those who already have an irrigation system can consider whether it’s efficient or fine-tuned enough.
Those who use spray sprinklers, for example, may consider swapping out sprayers for highly efficient models that are more available to homeowners today than in the past, often on the shelf of local irrigation supply companies, Brown said.
Homeowners can look at whether plants in their yard are being watered to the right depth, whether their irrigation system adjusts with the seasons – less water during the spring and fall than in summer – or with the weather.
Plants’ water needs also vary depending in what type of soil they’re planted – which even in the Albuquerque metro area can range widely, from sand on the West Side to clay in the valley.
Brown concedes the considerations can overwhelm homeowners.
“People really just want you to say, ‘Hey, water your landscape 20 minutes two times a week in the summer, 20 minutes once a week in the spring and fall,” Brown said.
Lawns
Serquis said when she first moved to New Mexico from Argentina, the trend was incentivizing homeowners to get rid of their lawns altogether in favor of gravel. But lawns don’t get quite such a bad rap with conservation-minded landscapers these days.
“I think there is something in between” lawn and gravel, Serquis said. “(It) depends how you look at the grass, or what type of grass – it’s not that bad. And a xeriscape with no plants, just as a reflecting surface, could be even worse” because of the heat generated.
Brown said there are types of grass that require less water – and even if homeowners want the grass “that’s at the park,” there are better ways to water it than with a spray system that throws water high in the air and risks evaporation. Bustos agreed.
“If you have a lawn and you’re enjoying it and it’s functional and you’re taking care of it, then update it,” he said. “You know, update that irrigation system. There’s technology out there that just can make things a lot more efficient.”
Mulch
Brown said mulch is an important part of landscaping in the Southwest.
“One of the biggest things people complain about are weeds in New Mexico, and a lot of that is because wherever there is bare dirt, you’re going to get weeds,” she said. “… The simplest solution and the most inexpensive solution and easy to install is 3 to 4 inches of a shredded wood chip mulch over the entire yard.”
Mulch helps soil hold in moisture and insulate plant roots, and it breaks down over time to enrich the soil. Brown said a mulch layer often means replacing expanses of gravel.
“All gravel does is produce more heat and more weeds,” she said. “Even if you have the weed cloth, the weed cloth just makes it easier to pull the weeds.”
Starting small
Bustos acknowledged the process of adapting a landscape can be daunting. He said he encourages residents to start with the “lowest investment,” which is changing behaviors. People can start following the seasonal irrigation needs of their landscape, rather than giving the same amount of water all year.
Those ready to invest some resources can take small steps like installing smart irrigation controllers, swapping out sprinkler heads and efficient nozzles – steps Bustos said can save up to 30% of water usage in some cases.
“If you really want to invest, you want to transform your yard into a desert-friendly landscape, then we got a xeriscape rebate that folks can tap into,” he said.
Brown said while her clients may be in different phases with their landscapes, they tend to share one thing in common. “Overall, in general, people in Albuquerque want to save water,” she said. “That is a no-brainer now.”
Author: Gabrielle Porter, Albuquerque Journal Business Editor. Reprinted with permission from the Albuquerque Journal. Have a question about the article? AskAnExpert@abcwua.org
