Beginning May 1, watering days shift from two days a week to three, recognizing that as the summer months approach more water is needed to keep landscapes healthy and thriving.
• Landscape watering may only occur three days per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
• Landscape watering at businesses and other non-residential sites may only occur on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.
We encourage you to water up to three days. Sometimes this means not needing all three days to maintain a healthy landscape. See below on how to check moisture in the soil before watering.
• Watering restrictions do not apply to drip irrigation systems.
Our water efficiency team wants to make sure these restrictions are followed and will coach customers to compliance if we notice outdoor watering on non-watering days.
There are several ways to manage outdoor irrigation to maximize the use of water, including:
• Cycle and soak to reduce run-off: Some sprinkler systems apply water faster than the ground will absorb, causing water to runoff your landscape into the street and gutter. Cycle and soak is a process of running your sprinklers in shorter increments spaced out over a period to allow for better absorption by the soil. For example, if you are running your sprinklers for eight minutes, break the watering cycle into two increments of four minutes, spaced an hour apart. This allows the water to better permeate through the soil and get to where it is needed.
• Checking moisture before turning your sprinklers on: Research tells us that people often decide to water their yard just by looking at their plants or if the weather is hot and dry. The result is that often people overwater, applying more than their lawn and plants need. The only way to know for sure is to check soil moisture with a moisture meter or dig down with a hand shovel to determine soil moisture.
• Watering your plants in the morning to reduce evaporation: Watering your plants and lawn before 10 a.m. or after 8 p.m. is a good way to ensure your plants get all the water. You can use our
irrigation watering schedule to optimize the water used for your garden.
We are here to help
You can count on us to look for ways to save water. Visit
Roseville.ca.us/savewater to get additional tips, learn about our rebates, or to contact our staff.