Home | Mosaics | Books | Before | Winning Yard | Plant List | Garden Thoughts
Winning Yard and Water Conservation Information
Looking down the center area of the dry river bed.
Detail in front of yard the Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) on rightside.
From the front, looking at the house, the Galvezia speciosa on leftside.
Texas wild flower (Engelmannia pinnatifida).
Under the Toyon tree (Heteromeles arbutifolia), the Eschscholzia californica (Papaveraceae) in foreground.
Under Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) looking at Acacia tree.
Gallardia pulchella in front.
Looking out over wheelbarrow.
Looking at dry river bed from side yard.
Under the purple arch. Beautiful red ice plant (lampranthus affinis) and absolute must have in any garden, spilling out of the whisky barrel.
Me, at front driveway near the Acacia tree.
Tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium), wheelbarrow and my neighbors hedge.
Parrot's beak (Lotus berthelotii) under Acacia.
Hidden lizard peaks between the Argyranthemum frutescens 'bright carmine' and the Salvia clevelandii.
Water Conservation. Does Xeriscape Save Water?
A question I'm asked frequently is about how much water do I save a month, or year since adding this type of landscape. I knew I was saving but I didn't know how much or even how to figure it out. But several articles were written at Voice of San Diego about the water usage of our elected officials, which got me thinking about doing some research. (Here's links to the articles: In Water Conservation, City Officials Ignore Their Own Advice (Sept. 12, 2007),
Peters Hasn't Curbed Water Use (Jan. 24, 2008), and DeMaio Is Heaviest Water User Among City Officials.)
So based on the information given I was able to at last figure this out. According to San Diego's Water Conservation tips the average household usage is 14 hundred cubic feet (HCF) a month. Going by my water bill, I was able to average out all the months of 2008 and came up with 9.42 HCF on an annual monthly basis. I finally dug up my old bills and put them in an excel spreadsheet, and my starting average in 1998 was 18.08. But the yard had been mostly removed by 1999 it had jumped up to 18.50. Steadily each year the amount has come down, and at this point it appears I've cut my water usage in half. I wish I had the bills when we moved in and the lawn was still here but they are gone.
Yearly Averages:
Custom Search
|
