Here’s a great water saving tip: adjust your irrigation timer when the seasons change. Connie Speelman, from the Town of Queen Creek, one of our Arizona Regional Campaign Partners, explains to us that with cooler weather and lower evaporation rates, dialing your timer back is a good idea.
For more information, watch her interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3:
What is container gardening? Raymond Rees, from the Town of Fountain Hills, otherwise known as one of our Arizona Regional Campaign Partners, tells us about how containers that we have lying around the house can be used to house plants that will accent your home, yard, balcony or anywhere you’d like to add a little pizzazz with plants.
Here is his interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 where you can learn more:
Stay tuned for the next segment of Water – Use It Wisely on TV!
Fall planting season is here! Leeann Spahos, from the City of Peoria (one of our Arizona Regional Partners), discusses the advantages of planting in the fall season and the types of low water-use plants that you can add to your landscaping easily and that will offer lots of attractive color to your yard.
Watch her interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 here:
Stay tuned for the next segment of Water – Use It Wisely on TV!
Last Saturday, Water – Use It Wisely mascot, Wayne Drop, and Charlie “The Recycling Chimp” visited the City Hall at the Mall event at the Superstition Springs Mall in Mesa, Arizona.
Together they make a great pair because the more we recycle, the more water is conserved! Did you know that recycling one ton of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water?! Manufacturing a product from recycled materials takes a lot less water than the water needed for the same product made from raw materials.
Make Wayne Drop and Charlie happy by choosing to recycle and using water wisely!
How do you know if you have a leak in your home? The most common and easily fixed leak is the one in your bathroom… Your toilet! Watch this interview of our Arizona Water Partner, the City of Phoenix‘s Mary Lu Nunley, with host of “Your Life A to Z” Lisa Haffner as they talk about finding sneaky leaks in your home.
Don’t forget to take the Online Home Water Challenge! It’s a great how-to video on how to look for leaks and fix them, as well as other water saving tips and tricks.
Stay tuned for our next segment “Fall Planting with Color”!
The fall planting season has arrived! Temperatures are cooler, and it’s a great time to renovate your landscape or replace plants you may have lost during the hot, dry summer.
Desert Willow Trees are native to the Sonoran Desert.
There are hundreds of beautiful desert plants to choose from but one of the biggest challenges of purchasing desert plants (especially since many are Sonoran Desert natives) is that some don’t look great in the pot at the nursery. You really have to have faith and know that the wispy stems in the container will be like the ‘ugly duckling that turns into a swan’ once planted in your landscape.
That’s why we suggest visiting a Xeriscape Demonstration Garden for plant selection ideas. It’s amazing how different plants look when they’re established in the landscape. Best of all, demonstration gardens give you a good idea of how large a plant can get so that you’re sure to put the right plant in the right place. You’ll also find design ideas and great examples of plant combinations.
Brand new xeriscape demonstration garden in Paradise Valley
One of our Water – Use It Wisely Partners, Arizona American Water, is pleased to showcase a new Xeriscape Demonstration Garden in Paradise Valley located at 6229 N. Mockingbird Lane. The Company planned the garden with neighbors, town council members, and Master Gardeners and turned an unused site into a fabulous demonstration for low-water use plants, Xeriscape principals and how to save water and money.
Arizona American Water is one of fifteen Water – Use It Wisely regional partners and many of them sponsor beautiful demonstration gardens. Get inspired. Find a Xeriscape Demonstration Garden near you!
This Fall, Water – Use It Wisely is being featured on Arizona’s local Channel 3′s Your Life A to Z with some easy and practical ways to save water. Last Wednesday (09/28) our Arizona Regional Campaign Water Partner, the City of Scottsdale, sent their Water Conservation Specialist, Elisa Klein, to be interviewed by Lisa Haffner. They discussed the water and cost saving advantages of not overseeding your lawn in preparation for the cooler months.
Check out the video on our YouTube Channel here:
For more information about overseeding, read our blog post on the topic here.
Next week’s segment: Reduce Your Outdoor Water Use. Stay tuned!
Siemens and Facebook have come together to help you define your personal water footprint. The water calculator allows you to input personal information about your household water use and gives you a score. It’s easy to use and keeps you thinking about all of the ways you can save water.
I Even got a “Nice job,” attaboy from the calculator for our water footprint. It says we use around 57,917 gallons per year. That still seems like a lot, so I guess I’ve got more work to do.
How do you compare? Take the challenge now. It only takes a minute or so, and you’ll be surprised at what you learn.
Here are a 100+ ways to save.
Water conservation can serve as an integral part of corporate sustainability practices, or the “greening” of a business.
Many often think of “greening” as a technique that focuses on energy savings, but it is important to not forget the importance of saving “blue.” Not only is water a limited natural resource, but there is also a fundamental water-energy connection.
The treatment and delivery of water requires a great deal of energy, but it takes a lot of cooling water for energy production too. The electrical power industry is one of the greatest consumers of water, using more than 200,000 million gallons of water per day, according to the most recent U.S. Geological Survey for water.
Saving Water is Good for Business
Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to businesses, as customers are becoming more environmentally savvy. In fact, as reported in the UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study: A New Era of Sustainability, in 2008, 91 percent of consumers said they had bought a product or service from a company they trusted—showing a direct correlation between profits and public image.
Being an active water steward is one more way to enhance a company’s image and improve employee pride and motivation. Besides positive PR, an organization will benefit with cost savings, including lower maintenance and equipment replacement costs, in addition to reductions in energy and water bills.
Ways Businesses Use Water
The ways a business may use water are as varied as the types of businesses that use it. Is the organization a simple office setting or a manufacturer? A food processor, school, hospital or motel? All have different ways of using water, from simple bathroom and kitchen use to cooling towers, landscape irrigation, water purification, scrubbers or rinsing processes. Water use may range from a few thousand gallons a month to millions of gallons.
Ways Businesses Can Save Water
Simple steps can be taken like fixing leaks, installing low-flow showerheads, installing high efficiency toilets, xeriscape landscaping and recycling process water. However, the best savings will occur if a business creates a water management plan.
Three best practices for all organizations:
Donna DiFrancesco is a Conservation Specialist with the City of Mesa, Environmental & Sustainability Division where she educates Mesa, Arizona residents about xeriscape, water conservation, living green and sustainability. She is also a member of the Water – Use It Wisely regional campaign steering committee.
The Griswold family in National Lampoon’s, “Vacation,” maybe the ultimate American icon for that favorite of summer pastimes: Road trips!
But now the EPA is whistling down the on-ramp and they’ve got the pedal to metal. They’ve replaced Clark Griswold behind the wheel of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster with Flo and a hybrid. Flo is the “spokesgallon” for WaterSense’s new “We’re for Water” campaign. And instead of Wally World, their destination are water-stressed communities across the country.
Why the grand road trip?
Flo will stop at national landmarks and tourist attractions from Los Angeles to New York City, spreading the word about water efficiency along the way—from July 14 until August 2.
The EPA reports that 36 states have projected some degree of water shortages through 2013. With the U.S. population doubling between 1950 and 2005, and water use tripling, the EPA decided to send Flo on a drive-about to educate all of us on the little water-saving tips that can make a big difference. Plus, they’re pushing WaterSense labeled products on their trip.
Go to their site and you can take an “I’m for Water” pledge. You can even friend them on Facebook.
It’s great to see the EPA hit the road with this kind of messaging. The Water – Use It Wisely campaign has been at it for almost 14 years with our now famous, “100+ Ways to Save Water.”
I hope Flo makes it to Phoenix, because our own Wayne Drop could use some company (Although I’m not sure Flo can hold a candle to Christy Brinkley in her Ferrari).
