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Water Conservation Irrigation he number one use of water is irrigation, which is also the easiest way to save - not only for the resource, but for your wallet. So many households and commercial properties use extensive amounts of water to irrigate their lawns. ERMU has assisted many customers in reducing water waste through our SMART irrigation rebates, educating them about how to save money on their yard. 1. If you irrigate, consider a SMART controller. Many can be retrofitted to replace your current system. They are very affordable and can pay for themselves in water savings in a small amount of time. 2. Soak and cycle: the trick to using less water and getting the same great results is to water more frequently but for shorter amounts of time. This is the best feature of most SMART controllers, but similar results can be achieved if you manually move your sprinkler around the yard. If the front yard is Zone A and the backyard is Zone B, it may be best to water for 15 minutes and then rotate to the next zone. You may need to water a zone two or three times in a session, but by breaking up the amount of watering time in each zone, you are allowing better absorption for the roots and reducing runoff. If you irrigate a zone all at once, the water strips the soil of nutrients and runs right past the roots. That's money and a precious resource down the drain. You can often see when there's too much water at the surface of a lawn; it starts to run down the driveway or road or accumulate at the lowest level of the yard. That's not helping to reduce waste. 3. Water during the coolest part of the day, and not in the sunlight. Evapotranspiration happens more in the sun and at higher temperatures. Also, irrigation should follow the seasons. Many people begin irrigating too early in the year. Snowmelt generally leaves soil wet for longer than we realize. Grass is naturally dormant until sunlight and temperatures increase, so hold off watering until it's needed. Minnesota lawns typically do well with moisture in the spring to early summer. 4. Irrigation head replacement can be helpful to reduce excess watering. Moving or redirecting irrigation heads to avoid watering areas with no grass will optimize your water use in the intended areas. 5. Regular irrigation system checks will help you identify issues faster and allow you to get acquainted with your lawn's needs instead of just dousing it. Grass often does not require as much water as you think, and SMART features combined with checks can facilitate savings of both money and water. These small changes can drastically reduce your watering volume while keeping your lawn lush and healthy, allowing the roots to grow deeper to seek water. We've had many town/home associations navigate to SMART controllers in the last 15 years, and they have received our SMART rebate. One association was gathering information on SMART controllers for a few years prior to making the leap, and we continued to promote retrofitting its systems to reduce its immense water consumption for multiple sites. It has now been utilizing a SMART controller for just shy of a decade, and the results are amazing! Water conservation is perhaps best described as "mindfulness to reduce water waste." Water resource consideration is imperative for our future. Elk River is on the outskirts of the Twin Cities basin, which is a bowl -shaped water flow system, similar in shape to the metro freeway loop of I-694/1-494. The inner portion of the circle below the center of the Twin Cities has more accessibility to water at depth, meaning the volume of water concentrates at the bottom of the bowl. The center also houses the densest population, which consumes more resources. There are over three million people who require water in the Twin Cities basin. As we all draw water, the edges of the bowl witness noticeable negative impacts more prominently and more immediately than the middle. Through the and growing season, wells must pull from greater depths, and some wells run dry as consumption increases and the recharge trickles. It takes a long time for the aquifer to recharge, and we never know how the weather will affect the replenishment rate. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is restricting new nonpotable wells that draw from our primary aquifer. Future potable wells in the Mount Simon -Hinkley Aquifer must be preapproved by the DNR and show a valid need, such as limited access to other drinking water resources. It is our goal to educate consumers on best practices in order to enjoy our limited precious resource. With mindful water consumption we can work together to mitigate potential shortages that may be imminent in the outer communities. 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