Tips

Top 10 Water Conservation Tips:

Reduce outdoor watering by one day a week
Find and repair leaks now
Inspect and tune-up your sprinkler system monthly
Water between midnight and 6:00 a.m. to reduce water loss from evaporation and wind
Use a broom, not a hose, to clean your driveway, deck or patio
Use a bucket and a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle when you wash the car, or take your car to a carwash that recycles
Cover pools and hot-tubs to reduce evaporation
Use front-load washing machines
Run the dishwasher and clothes washer with full loads only
Prevent and report water waste

In your home:

A typical family of four uses 640 gallons of water a day. Do you know how you use water, and how to use less water? Being water aware is the first step.

Read your water bill and water meter, and use the minimum amount of water for every activity you do.
Fix toilet and faucet leaks promptly. Toilet leaks are sometimes hard to detect. Drop a little food color into the tank and wait five minutes. If the color seeped into the bowl, you have a leak.
Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators.
Don't let water run while shaving, brushing teeth or rinsing dishes.
Replace high-water-using toilets with the new 1.6-gallon per flush toilets.
When replacing your old washer, purchase an energy and water saver washing machine that only uses 40% of the water.
To find out what rebates and programs are available from your local water supplier, click here.

In your yard:

Water early in the morning, avoid watering during the heat of the day when water evaporates more quickly, or when it's windy. Sprinkler systems with automatic timers should be set to water before 6 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
The California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) helps Sonoma and Marin County gardeners and growers know when to water their plants. Visit the CIMIS site and check the watering needs for your area.
Avoid excess watering, this allows water to run-off the landscaped area or allows the ground to become super saturated (soggy soil is not good for your plants).
Water infrequently but thoroughly. Watering to a depth of 4-6" will encourage deeper, healthier root development and allow the lawn to go without water for longer periods of time.
Watering your lawn in short cycles is better than one long cycle. By splitting your watering time and by repeating it again about 1 hour later, you will reduce water runoff and water more deeply.
Write down your irrigation schedule and keep it handy (tape it on the inside of the irrigation controller) for future reference and note any changes.
Regularly check your sprinkler systems. Even at a glance, many sprinkler problems may be discovered.
Install a drip irrigation system for shrubs, vegetable gardens, flower beds or pots and save up to 50% in outside water use. It's easy, inexpensive and an efficient way to water.
Defer non-essential new landscape planting until the fall when planting conditions are most favorable, and plant low-water-use plants.
Apply three inches of mulch around the base of plants to retain moisture and prevent evaporation.
Don't spoil your plants. Too much watering may "train" your plants to require more irrigation than is necessary. Low-water-use plants are great, but it takes low-water-user people to keep them that way.
Wash your car with a bucket and a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle.
Don't mow too low. Keep lawns two to three inches high to prevent them from drying out too quickly.
Sweep away debris. Don't hose down paved or decked areas.
Cover your swimming pool to cut evaporative loss. Postpone any non-essential pool repairs if they require draining and refilling of the pool.
Adopt a mandatory watering schedule (2-day watering schedule: odd-numbered addresses on Tuesday and Saturday, even-numbered on Wednesday and Sunday).
To find out what rebates and programs are available from your local water supplier, click here.
Contact your local water supplier to receive your free copy of the award-winning Water Wise Gardening for Sonoma and Marin Counties CD. This user-friendly computer program utilizes an innovative format of garden tours, interactive photo galleries, and tips on how to use water wisely in your garden and lawn. It includes a database of over 1,000 water-efficient plants that thrive in our area's climate.

At work:

Launched by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board, the Business Environmental Alliance (BEA) was created in response to a business task force finding that while businesses often have an interest in operating in a way that is environmentally responsible, they lack necessary information and support. The BEA encourages and showcases the voluntary adoption by businesses of environmentally-sound business practices.

Agricultural Community:

Don’t start irrigating too early in the season – wait for shoot tips to slow down.
Apply short and more frequent irrigation cycles to prevent wasted water below the root zone.
Irrigate in the early morning or after 6 p.m.
Implement vine and soil moisture monitoring systems
Improve wine quality by applying minimal irrigation quantities.
Use canopy management to avoid heat damage to fruit, rather then using sprinklers.
Large vines waste water. Restrictive early irrigation prevents development of excessively large vines.

Vineyard water management best management practices

• Reduce irrigation water usage

• Irrigation avoidance:

Don’t start to irrigate too early in the season (wait until shoots stop growing before irrigating – assuming that shoots reach proper length before stopping
Manage cover crop to minimize its competition (closely mowing is best option)
Limit use of overhead sprinklers for cooling:
Leave some leaves and laterals to protect fruit from direct sunlight.
Leave one side of VSP loose to shade fruit.
North or northeast row orientations are less sensitive to heat stress than east-west oriented rows.
Limit or eliminate late-season sulfur and horticultural oil applications – these materials promote leaf burn during hot weather.
Increase trigger temperature for start-up of system.
Apply overhead sprinklers in pulses. Allow for evaporation between cycles. Less than 50% duty cycle should be effective.
Reduce system pressure for this purpose. Use just enough pressure to get sprinklers to turn.

• Irrigation reduction:

Smaller vines use less water – leaf area transpires water. Begin irrigation later in the season and hedge vines to constrain canopy.
Short & frequent drip irrigation is much better than large, infrequent applications – may allow for less overall water application.
Install additional drip tubes to selectively irrigate weaker zones in the vineyard earlier in the season without irrigating the entire vineyard block.
Use soil moisture devices in weakest soils of each block to discover how long irrigation may be applied before water is wasted (i.e. moving past root zone).
Employ a moderate deficit irrigation program while monitoring soil and/or vine water status. Vine water status monitoring (using a pressure chamber or Porometer) is highly desirable, since soil moisture instruments are not easily calibrated.

• Improve system and irrigation efficiency:

Perform frequent (at least once per week) and repetitive inspections of drip laterals and emitters, valves, filters, etc. Look for leaks in the system. Repair any leaks immediately.
Perform system uniformity evaluations at least once per season using timed collection of water output in catch cans. Less than 65% uniformity triggers system flush.
Reduce height of drip emitters where possible to reduce evaporative losses from splashing.
Apply mulch under the vines (or under drip emitters) to reduce surface evaporation – use caution with mulch cover, however, if voles are a potential problem
Nighttime irrigation is more efficient than daytime irrigation.
Apply short and frequent irrigation applications (as mentioned above).
Monitoring vine water status will allow for decisions regarding whether improved efficiency will allow for an overall reduction in irrigation volume.

• Perform rotational (nighttime) pumping:

Pump during the night, when water demand on the river is at its lowest.
Recharge ponds at nighttime or irrigate at night, if direct feed.
Rotate with neighbor growers or within your own vineyard blocks.
Electric pumps: Install time-of-use meter to significantly save PG&E costs.

• Reduce post-harvest irrigation:

Refrain from using overhead sprinklers for irrigation of vines.
Use drip irrigation for post-harvest fertigation and irrigation of the vines.
Vine irrigation is not necessary if vines are senescing. Irrigate only if leaves are green following harvest. Some fertilizers (e.g. phosphorus, potassium and micronutrients) may be applied if vines are not active, but do not apply nitrogen if vines are senescing.
Use overhead irrigation only for shallow irrigation of cover crop seeds. Consult local farm advisor for best practices for cover crops.
Use permanent (self re-seeding or perennial) cover crop to avoid re-seeding every fall.

Contacts:

For more information about these BMPs, contact Mark Greenspan, manager and viticulturist, Advanced Viticulture, LLC, at 707.568.5256.