Conserving Water While Maintaining Your Lawn – and Your Sanity

“Water, water everywhere”:  Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s observation in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” might as well on e have applied to our area. Everywhere sprinkler systems have irrigated the lawns that thread Westchester and Fairfield counties’ fabled verdure. But that has become a less frequent occurrence.

Working with Aquarion Water Co., Greenwich has limited automatic sprinkler systems to two days a week, determined by the last digit of the house number.

https://www.greenwichct.gov/385/Water-Supply-Conservation

The measure was established last year to reduce water usage by 40%. Not only does this conserve water but it increases the health of the lawn as too much watering is counterproductive, often rotting plants. Hand-held hoses, drip irrigation and soaker hoses can still be used.

Nor is Greenwich alone. Darien, New Canaan, Newtown, Stamford and Westport have also had watering restrictions. Last summer, large swatches of Westchester County also restricted water usage, including Bedford, Buchanan, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Montrose, Mount Kisco, parts of New Rochelle, North Castle, Rye, Scarsdale, Somers, White Plains, Yonkers and Yorktown. (Check your municipality’s website for the latest.)

What to do?

* Avoid watering during peak usage, 6 to 10 a.m.

* Water the old-fashioned way so you can control the volume of water better.

*Think of other ways to reduce water usage, such as not running the water while you’re shaving or brushing your teeth.

*If you must have a green lawn, consider a more drought-resistant kind, like tall fescue, fine fescue and Kentucky bluegrass.

*Or go with trending gravel, mulch, hardy plants or other ground covering that offers greater durability.

We at the Morano Group have gone proactive on this, upgrading to an app-based Wi-Fi controller so we can observe and adjust any client’s property remotely in seconds. Hunter makes one of the easiest to use.

The Hydrawise, https://www.hydrawise.com/content/hydrawise-smart-controller-and-water-management-software to help you get water-wise.