July Update

Dear Member:

July turned out to be the rainiest July on record with nearly 1/2 inch of rain falling.  Even with that, we still used 80,000 gallons of water per household, far above the state average.  We were better than last year and we beat Fresno's targeted savings. For the year, we are 14% better than last year and only 2% behind the target.

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Bermuda Grass Lawn Watering Rates

From information I obtained in an article written by the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department of the University of California, I calculated the amount of water needed to keep Bermuda grass lawn alive and green in Fresno, California.  I ran tests on the output of my sprinklers at each valve location.  On average, my sprays put out 1.5 inches of water an hour and the gear drives put out .5 inches of water per hour.  Based on the guide published for the San Joaquin Valley, the optimum amount of water can be applied by sprinklers outputting 1.5 inches of water in 19 minutes per day 3 times per week in July and or 57 minutes per day with sprinklers outputting .5 inches.

Month Pop up Sprays - Minutes per day @ 3 times per week Seasonal Factor Gear and Impact Sprinklers - Minutes per day @ 3 times per week

               1.5"                   .5"

Jan                2 11%                    6 

Feb                4 22%                  13 

Mar                8 41%                  23 

Apr              11 59%                  33 

May              15 78%                  44 

Jun              18 96%                  55 

Jul              19 100%                  57 

Aug              16 85%                  48 

Sep              13 67%                  38 

Oct                8 41%                  23 

Nov                4 19%                  11 

Dec                1 7%                    4 

Seasonal adjustments are shown as a percentage above based on July being the month requiring the most water.  

If we reduce watering by 20% the reduced amount of water applied by sprinklers outputting 1.5 inches of water would be 15 minutes per day 3 times per week in July and or 46 minutes per day with sprinklers outputting .5 inches. We can keep our lawns alive at this level and still save a lot of water.

Mainline Water Valve Locations

Several of you found your main water valve locations and reported those locations.  Thank you.  There are still 15 missing locations, mine being one.  We will be hiring a plumber in the next few weeks to locate the missing valves.  The estimate is $75 to $100 for each valve.  Only those members with missing valves will be charged for the location costs which will be invoiced along with the next annual billing.