Summer is an ideal time for those with a green thumb, but as homeowners and gardeners know, some plants need a lot of water. In fact, landscaping can account for up to a third of residential water use. By some estimates, up to half of the water used for business and homes is wasted due to water inefficiencies in outdoor landscapes. That’s particularly troubling when such a large part of the U.S. is in a drought.
Santa Fe, N.M., is one city that struggles with water scarcity. For a community that receives less than 14 inches of rain a year, water conservation is important. That’s why our Walmart store in Santa Fe is now capturing this rainwater and saving it to water the store’s landscaping.
Here’s how it works: When it rains, water is collected from the store’s roof and stored in an underground tank that holds 113,000 gallons of water. This storage tank is used to irrigate the store’s landscaping, which was carefully designed with drought-tolerant and native plants. A weather-based control system measures conditions to give the plants just the right amount of water they need – no more, no less.
This system will provide 69 percent of the water the store’s landscape will need in an average year, reducing water needed from city water supplies. For years with above average rainfall, the system could provide 100 percent of the water needed for the store’s landscape.
The rainwater harvesting project in Santa Fe is the most recent effort in a series of outdoor water conservation systems we started in 2005. Over the last seven years, we have learned a lot in this area and have developed some best practices while eliminating those that didn’t work as well as they should. As a result, we have a new set of guidelines we use for projects like the one in Santa Fe, or a similar one at a store in Flagstaff, Ariz., that captures rainwater to irrigate the store’s Garden Center.
What best practices do you have for conserving water outside your home or small business? Collecting and storing water in a rainwater barrel is one simple way to save up on a rainy day, but there are a number of other ways to conserve. Here are some suggestions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program:
- Use plants that require less water and are native to your region.
- Water in the early mornings (from 4 to 7 a.m.) to reduce evaporation.
- Sweep your sidewalk or driveway instead of hosing them down.
- Raise your lawn mower cutting height to reduce water evaporation and rapid grass growth.
- Consider installing water-saving technologies, such as a watering timer or sprinkler controller.
Any thing in the works for farmers, vineyards, etc.?
Conserving water is a very serious matter, especially here in Tucson AZ. Yet so much water is being wasted each day. Many apt. complexes here have grass, instead of native plants, and more often than not, the spigots are not directed properly, and half the water runs down the sidewalks. Palm trees can be found throughout the city, which are not native, and require much water.With a few simple changes there could be so much less water usage. What a shame the city does not seem to care.
It might be possible to increase the rainfall amounts in much of the continental United States by simply allowing salt water piped in from the ocean to evaporate in our dry western states.
And generate electricity by putting turbines which take advantage of the tidal water flow coming from the Pacific Ocean through tunnels filling up the below sea level areas in the West. This is a gigantic macro engineering project, but would have great payback in both energy and by creating more precipitation in the arid regions.
Wow! Good job. Old technology reinvented because it really works! I worked on a dairy farm as a boy.In the farm house, all the water for the indoor plumbing was provided by a sistern in the basement, drinking water from a well in the barn. I am in construction now and have wondered for years why this same setup is not incorporated into new residential construction.
My ‘landscape’ is my previous close cropped fescue lawn. Endless work, fuel, expense, chemicals and very little ‘return’ for my effort beyond having a nice view. Today, it is a 2-3 feet high meadow, dotted with wildflowers, swaying heads of grass and endless birds seeking snacks of insects and seeds. It now needs NO watering, the roots are deeper, the night dew aids in the moisture and it only gets mowed once, just before November. I trim the sidewalk and house as needed, other wise, were happy!
Why not to create infrastructure of piping lines with pump stations on both ends to pump flood water from flooded pains reservoirs to areas with reservoirs, which often experience drought or flood. Just pump flood water forth and back where is needed?
I am impressed with what Walmart is doing to reduce their utility bills. Building in this infrastructure will no doubt allow them to take advantage of the numerous corporate tax deductions/incentives.
Now if they could just reduce the amount of plastics that are found in 99% of their products that would lessen the exposure of the toxic outgassing. I cannot stay in that store for more than ten minutes before I start sensing the effects on my body.
geez.. I am all about trying to save water…. I was trying to do this at home with a garbage can under my gutter…. and I was told I can get a citation for it… go figure..