Conserving Water in Malibu

In this day and age, we often find ourselves clambering for more water. It has become our most precious resource, and these warm beautiful days serve to remind us of water restrictions and who hasn't been bothered by the high cost of water due to the high volume of use?

This is not surprising, not a day goes by that I don't find myself driving by someone’s residence where water is flowing down the street into the drains from a sprinkler system that is either poorly maintained or designed. Given the high-tech society we live in, it would not be hard to imagine that there are products available to us that would minimize, if not eliminate, the waste of water

Let me introduce the term "efficient irrigation systems." These are systems that effectively water your lawns, trees and vegetation without water waste. They water less time per day, week or month. And they water what needs to be watered, meaning they don't water open areas that don't need it and would only create weed growth and moss.

Efficient irrigation systems incorporate water conservation sprinkler heads, drip irrigation and the use of smart timers. The use of a smart timer will mean your water will not come on when rain or high humidity conditions prevail. One of the beautiful things about living here in Malibu is that we often have really moist conditions in the air that will benefit all the vegetation in your yard because moisture gets absorbed through the leaf of a tree, the blade of grass and the needle of a pine.

Your computer can also control smart timers. This provides ease when having to make adjustments. Drip irrigation is ideal for all of your planter areas. It literally will only water what needs to be watered and will not water open areas. Drip irrigation can be set to water one plant that needs four gallons per hour (gph) and one that needs .5 gph at the same time. It is so efficient that it will not have to water as long as the over-spray you currently have, which means you’re not watering weeds, sidewalks, the street or your driveway.

The sprinkler heads manufactured today are incredible. They cover the same amount of area at almost half the amount of water than most heads currently being used. They adjust to perfect coverage of lawn edging and have a variety of nozzles that can also lower the amount of water used. 

There are number of misconceptions that seem to cause individuals not to consider changing their sprinkler systems. They believe that their yards will not be lush if they are not super moist. They believe that it is cost prohibitive to change their sprinkler system. Let us examine these two points in conclusion.

Lush yards are achieved by having the proper amount of water placed in the appropriate location to benefit the vegetation and often times super moist can create more than a lush garden. With the design of most sprinkler systems, it takes over-watering to keep everything alive. The problem with this is you will also be spending your money paying for weed eradication and fungus control—not to mention the replacement of vegetation on a semi-frequent basis due to it being too moist.

Many property owners have had problems with losing palm trees because an irreversible fungus condition (disease). I have had the pleasure of working with many property owners in this area regarding the implementation of an efficient irrigation system.

The place to begin is to have a irrigation/ sprinkler professional evaluate your current system and provide a plan with a cost to modify your current system. Make sure the company you notify or make this request of truly understands what water conservation means and how to implement it and you will find in most cases that this type of modification will pay for itself over a period of one or two water billing cycles, you'll find it is nothing short of incredible how much water we use and how efficient our sprinkler systems can be.            

Ron Ficklin is the owner of Malibu Scapes & Ponds.