Yesterday, April 1st 2015, Governor Brown of California has issued a 20% reduction in water use by the state. Effectively, we are now in the state of water rationing. A while ago we've made an entry regarding why hardscapes are a great idea to solving the large question of how to quickly and effectively make my backyard water efficient, yet pleasing to the eye: http://www.ushomedevelopers.com/blog/2014/09/02/5-water-saving-hardscape-design-for-woodland-hills-calabasas-thousand-oaks-west-hills.html

Today though we will go through a huge myriad of tips and ideas that can help you become water efficient. Some ideas are simple, that you can do you yourself, but there are some that would require a contractor to help you get your home ready.

Appliances

We've all heard of the EnergyStar program that the EPA has created that would give energy efficient appliances a special privileged of being part of the EnergyStar certification. Similarly, the EPA has created a water efficient certification called: WaterSense. You can visit the WaterSense website right here http://www.epa.gov/watersense/ which will give you a huge a mount of information regarding the kind of appliances you can get. In fact, they have a listing of all the appliance models and companies that product appliances that are considered water efficient by the WaterSense program. Please take a look, and consider switching to the WaterSense models for your home.

Landscape

Landscaping can take huge amount of water because we often forget exactly how much we are really spending on it. Consider a simple sprinkler that is set on automatically. How often do you wonder about how much water it is using? Does the grass even need the water? 

Make sure your sprinklers are facing and watering the grass area only. Many times you'd see sprinkler systems that are broken or not properly aligned and so much wasted water get's on the sidewalk where it just evaporates.

Another tip would be to not use them as often. A good way to tell if your grass needs water is to step on some of the grass blades and see if they come back up. If they do, the grass blades are full of water and are rigid, but if they are thirsty they will stay bent much longer. 

The ideal solution is to replace your grass with specific water efficient grass, which is very affordable to buy. An example would be: http://eartheasy.com/water-conservation/outdoor/wildflower-farms-eco-lawn-low-maintenance-grass-seed a $40 bag is enough for 1000 square feet of landscape. Imagine how much money it can save you with having to be watered far less?

For those of you who have a green thumb and would love a creative project, check out Xeriscape ideas, which were designed for drought prone areas, and still maximize natural flora in the backyard: http://eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm

The EPA offers an extensive knowledge base on water efficient landscaping ideas that you can check out here: http://www.epa.gov/greenhomes/ConserveWater.htm#landscaping

If you are building a home take into consideration that we live in a drought prone area, and as such, plan ahead. Having to invest a bit of money for more efficient appliances, construction materials and design can come to save you tons during the more severe drought years.