Tips for saving water: Outside the home
FORTY PERCENT OF TOTAL HOUSEHOLD WATER SUPPLY IS USED OUTSIDE THE HOME!
Maryland’s water resources are daily sprinkled, squirted, dripped, gushed, and often wasted outside the home.
Follow these tips to reduce water use outdoors:
Landscape Irrigation
- Install efficient irrigation systems such as drip irrigation, soil soakers, and efficient sprinkler systems.
- Set sprinklers for lawn and garden only, don’t water the street or sidewalk.
- Water the lawn only when the ground is dry and preferably no more than once a week: The amount of water used by a sprinkler in one hour is equal to the daily water needs of a family of four.
- Water during the coolest part of the day and never water on windy days: As much as 30% of water used can be lost to evaporation by watering lawn during midday.
- Pull weeds to decrease competition for water.
- Increase mowing height to 2-3 inches and apply mulch to both reduce evaporation and prevent weed growth.
- Limit grass areas and use trees, shrubs, and other plants that require less water to landscape your yard: Grass turf requires 30-50% more water than shrubs and other groundcover.
Other Outdoor Use
- Repair or replace leaking hoses and sprinklers
- Always use an automatic shut-off nozzle on hoses.
- Use a broom rather than a hose to clean decks, sidewalks, and other paved areas:
5 minutes of running the hose uses 25 gallons of water! - Use a bucket of suds to wash a car or bicycle.
Then rinse quickly with a hose. - Collect rainwater for reuse in the garden whenever possible.
- Cover pools to prevent evaporation.
An average uncovered pool loses about an inch of water a week because of evaporation.