Water Conservation and Collection

Late June rains provided some relief from the drought.  But as sure as the sun rises, another dry spell is around the corner.  With dry conditions and rising prices of almost everything, water conservation is more important than ever.  A typical home sprinkler system can account for 30 – 50% of the cost and water use in a household during the summer.

            Mississippi typically has droughty periods every year.  These usually coincide with the hottest part of the summer and early part of the fall.  There are ways to conserve water in the landscape during these annual drought periods as well as extended ones.

            One of the simplest things to do is to mulch your trees and shrubs.  Adding a 3 – 5 inch layer of pine straw, bark, gravel etc. will reduce moisture loss from the soil.  The mulch also prevents emergence of water-stealing weeds.  Another benefit is the mulch insulates the plant roots from high summer temperatures.

            Lawns, landscape plants, and gardens can be conditioned to drought conditions and lower water usage by the way they are watered.  Apply supplemental water only one time per week.  At this single watering, apply 1inch of water.  This method of watering will encourage the plant’s roots to grow deeper into the soil where there are greater soil moisture reserves.  Hint:  an inch of water is the amount it takes to fill an empty tuna can.

            An efficient way to water gardens is to use “trickle" or "drip" irrigation systems. These methods use 25 to 50 percent less water than do hose or sprinkler systems and puts the water where it is needed.

            The “rain barrel” is being revived in many parts of our state.  Rain barrels allow you to take advantage of excess rain water when it does occur and save it for a sunny dry day. Rain barrels collect rainwater that runs from your rooftop into a gutter.

The gutter funnels water into a plastic food-grade barrel or other container (30 -120 gallons) fitted with screen to keep out debris and insects.  Did you know that during a ¼ inch rainfall that 280 gallons of water runs off the roof of a modest 2000 square foot home! 

I am using a rain barrel to collect condensate from my air conditioning unit.  I get about 10 gallons of free water a day!

All of the suggestions above can help your plants and pocket books during our annual and extended droughts.  If you are interested in learning more about using Rain Barrels or how to build your own, a rain barrel workshop will be hosted at the Lauderdale County Extension office on July 21 at noon or by video conference through your local extension service office.