Thursday, August 26, 2010

County offers Half Price Rain Barrels!


Finally rainwater catchment is catching on in San Diego!


San Diego County is offering HALF-PRICE RAIN BARRELS for County Unincorporated Residents this August 28 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Water Conservation Garden, 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West, in El Cajon.


It may seem like it never rains in San Diego but did you know that just 1 inch of rain falling on a 1,000 square foot roof will yield 600 gallons of water? Instead of letting all of that water run into the stormgutter, that's water that could be used for watering a veggie bed, potted plants, rinsing your wetsuit, or watering your native garden!


Check out the County's Rainbarrel Page for more info!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Venturans face higher water fees

Venturans face higher water fees despite best conservation efforts

"Despite laudable water conservation efforts, Ventura residents and businesses can expect to pay more — including a possible “pass-through” fee — to cover mounting expenses for groundwater supplies and compliance with environmental regulations, the city’s public works director said..."

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jul/27/venturans-face-higher-water-fees-despite-best/

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

What is your Landscape Water Use?

Did you know that...?
...a 1,000 square foot lawn in San Diego (that's about a 50'x20' area) uses about 25,ooo gallons of water every year? (That's 400,000 8 ounce glasses of water or enough drinking water for one person to have 8 8oz glasses a day for the next 136 years.)

...60% of the water we put into the average landscape turns into runoff? In the above garden that's about 15,000 gallons of water annually that runs onto the street and into our gutters, picking up pollutants along the way and bringing them straight to the ocean.

...the average irrigation spray head has only a 55% efficiency rating (that means only half of the water that comes out of the head actually ends up on the landscape)!

...60% of all fertilizers and pesticides used in the garden end up in our groundwater and watersheds? (not to mention the pollution generated by traditional lawncare techniques and fossil fuels used to create and ship the fertilizers and pesticides)

Those are some pretty scary numbers and that's just the tip of the iceberg. But there are solutions to these problems!

We can reduce water use in our landscapes by over 70%.

We can eliminate landscape runoff from our landscaped areas or at the very least make sure that that water is cleaned of pollutants before it is allowed into our watersheds.

We can use organic methods to feed the soil and create a healthy living environment for plants eliminating the need for fertilizers and pesticides.

We can do all this and more while saving water, saving money, and saving our local heritage and environment.

These solutions are the focus of our Ocean Friendly Garden program and we invite you and your friends, neighbors, local nurserypeople, and many more to join us for our next workshop series which starts next Tuesday evening in Encinitas!

For more information and to sign up for the series please check out the Ocean Friendly Gardens Program webite and our San Diego Chapter OFG Blog