On the news yesterday they said its a record how many days we have had in a row over 90 degrees in good ol sunny Colorado. Along with the heat which I do not mind so much is the skyrocketing water bill, which I do mind. If the grass doesn’t get water daily, it immediately starts to brown up. Since here in colorado we get roughly as much rain as kapiti plain that means having to run the sprinklers daily. Joy. Before I get into some tips here is a question you might ask…

Why dont you just stop watering your lawn/garden?
We like our lawn and we’ve worked our butts off to make it nice. As far as the garden its been producing like mad and we literally are getting to the point where we have enough tomatoes and jalapeños for salsa every night and enough cucumbers for a cucumber salad every night. That is of course if the grasshoppers don’t eat everything first…I’m almost read to go inorganic and spray the damn things. Its not quite to the biblical locust storm proportions but its getting there.

So what can be done about the huge water bill? Here are some ideas…

1) Water the lawn at night
This is multipurpose, first of all you don’t lose a lot of water to evaporation and secondly you dont want your grass to burn.

2) Make sure your sprinklers are all aligned and adjusted
Why waste water watering the driveway or street or neighbors yard?

3) Buy some drought resistant shrubs
Instead of regular shrubs we bought some drought resistant rose bushes and they are doing really well. Plus they look great.

4) Use a bucket to wash your car instead of letting the hose run

5) Use a broom to sweet the patio instead of spraying it off with the hose

6) Don’t cut grass too short, the shorter the grass, the faster it dries out

Inside

1) Take shorter showers

2) Dont leave the water running while you brush your teeth

3) Make sure dishwasher loads are full loads
4) Repair leaky faucets, toilets and pipes

5) Do full loads of laundry

6) Keep some water or tea in the fridge instead of running the water for a long time waiting for it to get cold

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