Video: Ways to Minimize Landscape Irrigation

SAN JOSE — Host, Sarah Rutan: If you want to minimize your water consumption, the first place you should look is your landscape. Today we’re in San Jose with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Roger Van Alst of Black Diamond Paver Stones & Landscape to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Roger Van Alst: The average lawn will consume more water than the entire household does put together with showers, bathing, and washing dishes. So, many people have decided to removed their water hungry lawns and replace them with a water conserving synthetic lawn, or low water consumption plants.

So, one of the ways is synthetic lawn. So, we can remove that lawn and you can put in a synthetic product. These have come a long way since the days of AstroTurf. We have brown thatches now inside of the lawn which makes it more realistic. We find that neighbors have to come up and touch it before they can tell that it’s actually a synthetic product. Putting greens are great too for the backyard. So, you can make a play area that also will not consume any water instead of the lawn that’s there.

Customers are also removing their front lawns and back lawns and replacing them with low water consumption plants. So, you can have California native or drought tolerant plants put into a yard and remove the water hungry products that are there. Most cities and counties are also offering rebates to clients to remove their lawns and replace it with low water consumption plants. So, check with your county or your city to see if you can get as much as $1 and $2 per square foot to remove the lawn and replace it with a drip system to feed those plants.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.