It can save you money on water bills and maintenance.

There are many reasons for you to renovate your landscaping to save water.  But why would a water provider or utility want you to use less of what they provide- water?

Since we work with customers to reduce their water-use, we hear this question quite often.  It does seem counter intuitive:  Why would someone who is in the business of selling water want you to use less of it- in many cases offering rebates and incentives to do so?

Can you imagine a Walmart employee standing outside of the store offering to give you $20 back, if you spent LESS money inside the store?

There are a few key reasons why water conservation is encouraged by water providers:

First, water demand will always continue to increase, regardless of how much our water use is reduced.  Population growth and land development put a great deal of strain on our water supply and the water delivery system.

Because the demand will always be there, it is in the water provider’s best interest to slow the rate of growth as much as possible.  There are large systems for treating, storing, and delivering water that need constant expansion and repair.

Secondly, water conservation is already built into the billing system.  Most water suppliers now use a conservation-oriented “tiered” rate structure.  These rate structures charge a base rate regardless of how much water is used, and separate rates for the levels of water that is actually consumed.

Finally, water utilities often consist of complex public/private partnerships, so there are environmental and public health considerations that are just as important as profit.  Would we really want our water system to be based totally on how much revenue and profit could be generated?

When considering the public good in terms of water conservation, there are numerous considerations:  Preparedness for droughts; the health of our rivers, lakes, and streams, and aquifers; impacts to other cities and states “downstream”; and even national security.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• How to Design Your Landscape to be a Sponge for Rainwater
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• California Water Provider Announces New Water Conservation Rebate Programs
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient

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Population growth is straining water supplies and delivery systems, causing many water providers to provide great incentives to reduce water use.  Homeowner’s, businesses, and HOA’s are also looking for ways to trim their budgets and increase their long-term sustainability.

But landscape renovations can get expensive.  Thankfully, there are some great rebates out there that you can take advantage of to help offset the costs.  When you factor in the rebates, as well as significant water and maintenance savings, a landscape renovation can make a lot of sense for your property.

Irrigation Upgrades vs. Turf Removal

Most of the rebates out there focus on 2 main areas: Irrigation Upgrades and Turf Removal.

Irrigation upgrade rebates are offered to water customers to increase the efficiency of their irrigation systems.  Rebates are often offered to install more efficient spray nozzles, rain sensors, and controllers.

The rebates for these items are usually calculated per item installed, for example, $5 per efficient rotary nozzle, and $50 for a rain sensor.  For larger commercial properties there are often limit to the maximum rebate that can be obtained.

Turf removal rebates are geared toward removing areas of high water-use landscaping (usually lawns and turfgrass) and replacing those areas with low water-use landscaping.  The replacement landscaping can consist of  Xeriscape, native plants, and a variety of colorful shrubs, perennials, trees, and ornamental grasses.

This approach has the ability to lower water use dramatically, as the landscape itself is being changed to REQUIRE less water to be healthy.  As such, the rebates offered for a turf removal landscape renovation are generally much higher.

Turf removal rebates are usually calculated based on the square feet of the area being changed, for example $1.50 or $2.50 per square foot of area that is changed from high water-use to low water-use.  The total amount available varies by water provider or City, and can be a couple thousand dollars to as much as $25,000 and more for larger properties.

When pursuing a turf removal type rebate, a good landscape design can be very beneficial and is often required in order to get the rebate.  Most rebates require that the replacement landscaping consist of a variety of low water-use plantings that will help to create an interesting and beautiful replacement landscape.

Consider hiring a professional landscape architect- In most cases the rebate you receive will more than pay for the services of a professional, and your experience will be a lot more enjoyable.  In some cases, additional rebates are offered to customers who use a professional to do the design.

It takes a little bit of research to figure out which rebate is right for you, but in the end a rebate can be a great way to offset the cost of renovating your landscaping.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape

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How can this be applied to our own residential and commercial landscapes?

Brad advocates a change in the way rainwater and storm drainage is thought of. Often times buildings are designed to get water to drain off of the site as quickly as possible, and into an elaborate system of storm drains. This approach treats rainwater as a nuisance, where it is not being used on the site at all. With a landscape design and drainage design that captures and directs water so that it can be used for gardens, flowers, and trees, this water can be utilized on-site as a valuable resource.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Building a Deck – What is the Best Decking Material?
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water

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In the project above, we worked with a home owner’s association (HOA) to design and oversee the installation of a water-saving landscape renovation.  Significant drainage problems were also addressed in the design. The aerial photo above shows Phase 1 of the improvements.  Because the high water-use turf areas were replaced with low water-use Xeriscape plantings, the renovation shown above will result in water savings of over 900,000 gallons of water per year that will no longer be needed for irrigation.  Because of the success of the project, the client asked us to design 2 more large phases that were subsequently completed.

The site in the second example, shown above, included a long narrow strip of irrigated lawn along the border of a multi-family property.  The lawn area was not being utilized by the residents, and since it was on a west facing slope the grass did not grow well and the irrigation water often produced wasteful run-off onto the parking lot and into the storm drain.  Furthermore, the adjacent wood fence along this strip was getting severely damaged by the overspray from the irrigation.  As I noted in a previous post, this is a condition to avoid.

The design solution for this landscape renovation was to limit the lawn areas to smaller, yet large enough to be usable, areas for the resident and their dogs.  We also utilized non-irrigated native seeding (visible in the lower left hand corner of the site) in the back areas along the fence.  This landscape renovation project resulted in significant reductions in water-use and maintenance, saving the community association a substantial amount of money in their annual budget.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• How to Design Your Landscape to be a Sponge for Rainwater
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program

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Water and wastewater services provider California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, stated on Thursday that the company and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District will be offering more rebates for installation of water-saving appliances and water-wise landscaping, commencing this month.

Residents can earn rebates for removing lawn and replacing it with low water use plants, permeable surfaces or synthetic turf. This programme now offers $1.25 per square foot of lawn removed and replaced with low water use plants or permeable surfaces up to 5,000 square feet (an increase from 2,000 square feet). Lawn replaced with synthetic turf qualifies for an additional rebate of $2.00 per square foot up to 2,000 square feet, bringing the maximum rebate amount to more than  $10,000.

My Thoughts: Those are pretty substantial rebates.  The amounts available are higher than I have seen in the past, and would be more than enough incentive for homeowners to consider renovating their landscaping to save water.

Unfortunately, the only landscape related rebates mentioned for commercial businesses are for graywater irrigation systems.   While I applaud those efforts, a much greater opportunity for water savings for commercial properties is in offering substantial rebates to replace high water-use landscaping with more water-wise landscaping.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Collecting Rainwater Still Illegal in Much of Colorado

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One of the best ways to do this is to convert your high water-use landscaping into a Xeriscape (pronounced “zeer-escape”).  This can be done anywhere-  from a small home landscape, to a large commercial property.

Many people have an image of Xeriscape as a “sea of rocks, with a few cactus plants”.  But Xeriscape can also be a lush, green and colorful landscape that is interwoven with flowering plants, textures, and beauty throughout each season.  In my opinion it is much more beautiful and interesting than “traditional” landscaping.

The Top 10 Benefits Are:

10.  Less Maintenance
9.  Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
8.  Prevent Water Damage
7.  More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
6.  Better Wildlife Habitat
5.  Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
4.  Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
3.  More Winter Beauty
2.  Better Prepared for Drought
1.  Saves You Money

Now I will discuss each benefit in greater detail and explain what each one can mean for you:

10.  Less Maintenance
Xeriscape takes less maintenance than traditional landscaping- and here is why:  A traditional landscape usually has quite a bit of lawn (turf, sod, etc.).  In order to keep a lawn healthy it requires weekly mowing, trimming around edges, edging the lawn along sidewalks, fertilizing, aerating, treating any number of fungi or diseases, adjustment of sprinkler heads, etc., etc.

Think about all of the time and effort that goes into all of that maintenance and mowing every week.  A well designed Xeriscape on the other hand limits the amount of lawn to maintain.  The plants themselves need little care.  If you give the plants room to grow- they need little to ZERO amount of pruning.  The idea of Xeriscape is to let the plants grow just as they do in nature.  The biggest maintenance items for a Xeriscape are an annual ”spring cleanup” and occasional weeding.

9.  Use Less Water & Better for the Environment
Obviously, a landscape that is more water efficient uses less water!  Why is this important?   Because fresh water is a very scarce resource throughout the world.  Population growth and droughts put a tremendous strain on our water supply, especially in the west and southwest United States.

And watering landscaping uses a huge amount of water.  For example, here in Colorado the average household uses 50% of their water for landscaping!  And that is after years of conservation efforts.  A well designed Xeriscape with drip irrigation can use up to 60% less water than a traditional landscape.

8.  Prevent Water Damage
This is probably the most unkown benefit on the list.  Water is the primary cause for damage of building foundations, paving, retaining walls, curbs, fencing, and just about anything else man-made.  So by limiting the amount of water you are applying to your landscape and around buildings, you greatly reduce the likelihood of damage and additional maintenance costs to these items.

7.  More Beautiful, Colorful & Unique
The next time you are in a suburban area of the United States that was built in the 1980′s or early 1990′s- look around at the landscaping.  I am willing to bet that you would see the same basic design of the landscaping in just about any city in the US- despite the fact that the local climates in these places are completely different!  How boring is that?!

Low water-use landscapes utilize plants that are either native to the local area, or well adapted to the region.  The choices you have in plants and the design possibilities are almost limitless.  You can utilize beautiful plants that do well in your area and exhibit a variety of interesting colors, forms, and textures.

6.  Better Wildlife Habitat
Low water-use landscapes and Xeriscapes utilize native plants that the local wildlife enjoy and are familiar with.  Flowers attract hummingbirds, songbirds, and insects including bees that are important to nature as pollinators.  Diverse plantings also offer cover and even food to a variety of birds and animals.

5.  Less Fertilizers & Pesticides Needed
Landscapes that are better adapted to the local environmental and weather conditions are less likely to be under stress, and therefor less susceptible to pests and diseases.  Lawns often require large amounts of supplemental fertilizer to stay healthy- native plants thrive under natural soil nutrient and weather conditions.  Additionally, applying large amounts of water to a landscape can promote fungi, mold, and bacteria issues.

4.  Better Suited to Your Site’s Unique Conditions
You know that big, dry, shady patch under the Oak tree where you can never get the grass to grow?  With low water-use landscaping you have many options for lovely plantings that enjoy dry shade.  The same goes for that southwest facing spot that gets baked by the sun all day- there are plants that thrive in those conditions!  Have clay or rocky soil?  You can select plants that prefer those soil types.  It makes more sense than planting lawn everywhere and artificially dousing it with water to keep it barely alive.

3.  More Winter Beauty
Xeriscapes and low water-use landscapes can be stunning in the winter.  You can use a combination of evergreen shrubs, ornamental grasses that catch the winter light and move in the breeze, plants with fall and winter foliage color, and shrubs with colorful and interesting bark to create contrast and texture in a snowy winter landscape.

2.  Better Prepared for Drought
Drought sounds like something that only third world countries should worry about.  But the fact is severe droughts and water shortages occur every year in all parts of the world.  Australia is currently in a prolonged drought that is having serious consequences on their water supply.  And in the early 2000′s Colorado experienced a major drought that caused rationing and restrictions on the amount of water one could use on their landscaping- causing lawns to turn brown all over Denver.  Low water-use plants are better suited to not only survive, but remain attractive during times of drought.

1.  Saves You Money
Water is a precious resource that costs more money every year.  And water rates are projected to continue to rise.  Significant savings can be achieved through a well designed conversion to low water-use landscaping:  in most cases a savings of up to 60%!  Several of the other benefits listed here also save money:  requiring less maintenance, preventing water damage, and surviving drought to name a few.  Raise your hand if you like to save money!

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• 5 Reasons to Reconsider your Hatred of Juniper Bushes
• California Water Provider Announces New Water Conservation Rebate Programs

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The average person in Denver uses 128 gallons of water per day for residential use.

The breakdown of residential water use:

• 1%  Dishwashers
• 5%  Leaks
• 6%  Faucets
• 10%  Showers and Baths
• 11%  Laundry
• 13%  Toilets
• 54%  Landscaping

Source:  Denver Water

Why is this such a high number for landscaping?
The simple answer is that over the last 150 years as people have settled in Colorado and built homes and commercial properties, they have installed high water-use landscapes to look like the landscapes of the east coast and Midwest.

Being from the Midwest myself, I understand the fondness for those landscapes.  The problem is that the Front Range area of Colorado only receives about 17 inches of rain per year.  In New York or Michigan these landscapes often thrive without any irrigation-  but in Denver these landscapes have to be heavily irrigated to “fake” that same look.

I like my fake landscape- what is the big deal?
Aside from the fact that you are paying for the water, and your tax dollars go toward maintaining the system, Colorado is running out of water.  Experts expect that we’ll have a 630,000 acre-feet shortage in 20 years.  1 acre-foot is 325,851 gallons!

Xeriscape can reduce landscape water-use by up to 60%
Since the largest percentage of residential water use goes toward landscaping, the best way to reduce water use is to use less for landscaping.   And the most effective way to use less water for landscaping is to convert high water-use landscapes to Xeriscape.  This can easily be done for homes and large commercial properties.  There are several articles on this blog and our website that describe the process.   Studies have shown that a good Xeriscape will increase your property value by as much as 15%.

Xeriscape was a term coined by Denver Water in the early 1980′s.   It is not a specific look or group of plants, but rather a combination of seven common-sense gardening principles that save water while creating a lush and colorful landscape.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The Top 10 Benefits of Making Landscaping More Water Efficient
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners

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Most of this is treated water that has gone through a long and expensive process of being collected and travelling through a complex system of catch basins, detention ponds and storm drains.

Next, the water is treated at a water treatment facility to the point where is certified drinking-quality tap water- often it is of better quality than what you would buy in a bottled water.

Finally, the water leaves the facility and travels through a DIFFERENT extensive system of pipes to your home or business.  The system, and all of the maintenance on it, is paid for by you the taxpayer.

Why then, would you design or maintain a landscape that sheds drinking quality water every day right back into the storm drain?

Water Running off Into the Gutter

Narrow islands like the one above should never have sod on them.  This photo was taken at a commercial site where there are literally dozens of these island.  Judging by how green the grass is, most likely they are getting watered like this twice a day.  In a future post I will give some calculations on typical water use-  but it is safe to say this property is sending  thousands of gallons of water down the drain every day.

Two other problems with this photo:

1)  The fact that they are “raised” islands makes the situation worse.  Water will quickly run off the slope before it is absorbed by the soil and lawn.

2)  Notice the cracking in the curb-  What is the number 1 cause of damage on parking lots and curbs?  Water.  The daily dousing of the curbs and asphalt will cause big maintenance costs.

ALTERNATIVES

• First off- never design the landscaping this way.  We never design turf areas within parking lot islands unless there is an areas that is flat, and over 8 feet in width.
• This property can be renovated to save water.  The renovation will save the owner in watering costs and landscape maintenance costs- while also limiting the amount of water damage to the asphalt and curbs.
• Here is an example of an alternative design, using Xeriscape planting on drip irrigation:
  

  A Low Water-Use Xeriscape Parking Lot Island

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• How to Design Your Landscape to be a Sponge for Rainwater
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• What Not to Do- Placing Irrigation Heads Next to Fencing
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Photo of the Day – Creative Use of Logs for a Stream Crossing

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photo of a converted xeriscape that was previously a lawn area

The City of Aurora, Colorado and Aurora Water have been pioneers in water conservation through supporting regionally appropriate landscape design.  Outdoor Design Group has been actively involved with the program for the last couple of years.  For 2010, the Xeriscape Rebate program has been allocated $250,000 dollars for rebates to convert high water use landscapes (sod, turf, or lawn) to Xeriscape.

In past posts on this blog, I have documented the money and water savings and given examples of the beauty of these landscapes.  Each site is different, but in general you can expect a reduction in irrigation water use of 30-70%, and a 20-40% reduction of landscape maintenance costs.  This is a great opportunity for HOA’s, commercial properties, and homeowners to achieve long-term savings, in addition to acquiring the rebates.

Here are some key aspects of the 2010 program, from Aurora Water’s website:

• Xeriscape is a great landscape option for our climate because of its reduced watering needs and ability to tolerate periods of drought.
• In addition to decreased water consumption and resilience to drought, Xeriscape has the potential to significantly decrease time and resources expended on maintenance.
• Aurora Water customers interested in Xeriscape as a landscape alternative may be eligible for a rebate of up to $1 per square foot for turf grass that is replaced with low water use plant material.
• $250,000 has been allocated for the 2010 season. The maximum square footage (rebate) is $10,000 for residential and $25,000 for commercial and large properties such as Homeowner’s Associations and multi-family dwellings.

For commercial and large properties such as home owners associations- the program requires that you haver a plan prepared by a licensed landscape architect.  This is a good idea anyway, as a landscape architect can help you prepare a budget and phasing for the project before you commit to a contractor to do the installation.  Landscape architects are also good at communicating what the new landscape will look like- through the use of plans, photos, drawings, and presentations.

Aurora is an ideal community for a rebate program like this, because there are many older landscapes were built in the 1970′s, 80′s and 90′s, and are ready for a renovation simply to update the look of outdated properties.  Although most new landscape codes mandate low water use landscaping, that was not the case in the past-  many older landscapes were designed in a way that requires large amounts of water and maintenance.

But Aurora is far from alone in offering this type of program.  Water supplies are stretched extremely thin throughout most of the Western United States.  A simple Google search for “Xeriscape rebate” brings up 26,400 results.  Similar programs exist throughout Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• Xeriscape Rebate Programs Provide a Great Opportunity for HOA’s and other Property Owners
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?

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This $400,000 project entailed correcting some serious drainage problems and replacing outdated high water-use landscaping with new low water-use landscaping as part of Aurora’s Xeriscape Rebate Program.  Outdoor Design Group worked with the HOA to design the improvements, submit plans to the City for approval, and apply for the Xeriscape rebate.  We then worked with the general contractor in the field on the re-grading of large areas, piping of downspouts, and the creation of drainage swales.  Finally, we provided bid procurement services for installation of the approved landscape and irrigation design, and worked closely in the field with the selected landscape contractor to complete the project.

Through careful planning, design, and coordination, we were able to obtain the maximum possible Xeriscape rebate for the HOA while reducing the water-use and associated costs by over 60%.  The maintenance costs for the landscaping are expected to be reduced by 20-40% with the new low-maintenance approach.

This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects.  For more information about our business and our services, click here.

Related Posts:

• Using Aerial Photos to View a Water Saving Landscape Renovation – Before and After
• The 2 Common Types of Rebates Available for Renovating Your Landscaping to Save Water
• Up to $25,000 Rebates Available through 2010 Aurora Xeriscape Program
• Save Money and Water by Converting Sod to Xeriscape
• Why Do Water Providers Want You to Use Less Water?

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