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This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
It’s good for the environment.
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?
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.
Landscape rebates are becoming popular across the county as water conservation becomes a bigger issue and more people look for ways to save water.
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.
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.
The following video by Brad Lancaster illustrates how much water the landscape is capable of absorbing- Check it out! I first saw Brad do a presentation a couple of years ago in Denver, and he is a really funny and effective presenter with some great ideas.
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.
This idea popped into my head one night at the end of a busy day. As I have written about in the past, one of our specialties at Outdoor Design Group is to work with large residential and commercial properties to renovate their landscaping to save water and maintenance. We call these our Site Renovation services. Often times the landscape is drastically changed, as we convert high water-use areas (usually irrigated lawns) into more sustainable Xeriscape style landscaping with trees, flowering shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses. I already knew what these changes looked like on the ground, but I wondered what they might look like from the sky…
