A New Mexico expert seeks alternative irrigation sources to save potable landscaping water

Angela Simental at the New Mexico State University News Center: New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service Specialist Bernd Leinauer is a turfgrass expert, studying and researching ways to preserve green spaces in places like New Mexico, where water scarcity is a big problem. “Our research is all about water conservation. We are focusing on water preservation in the landscape,”

Leinauer said. “We need water to grow plants in the desert, but when water is used for aesthetics instead of food, for example, it becomes questionable. So, how much water can we afford to use?” Leinauer found that approximately 50 percent of potable water usage during the summer in Las Cruces goes to irrigating the landscape.

“That is true for almost any city in the desert Southwest,” he said. “Which is considered non-essential, but I would argue that it is important because when we have green space, it contributes to our well-being and moderate climate, but at the end of the day, it is a large amount of water we use for the urban landscape.”

... Leinauer said cities are taking measures to keep landscaped spaces, especially in residential areas, but reducing the outdoor and landscaped area in new housing developments, which consequently reduces the area of irrigation. A second proposed conservation strategy is to have new developments receive two water lines: one for potable water and one for non-potable, treated water for outdoor irrigation, he added.

Leinauer’s research also explores alternative irrigation sources to using potable water while maintaining safety and aesthetics. “The treated effluent a city produces should be considered an alternative source of water. It’s not potable, and so far it is just put into the river and sent to El Paso and eventually on to Mexico,” he said. This water can potentially be used for irrigation in Las Cruces since other cities such as El Paso, Albuquerque and Santa Fe use it heavily for their parks and golf courses.

...Another part of the water conservation project is investigating new and more efficient irrigation systems. Leinauer has been looking at using subsurface water to decrease the waste of water. “This way you take irrigation out of sight and below ground, therefore, you are not throwing it in the air before it has to land on the ground,” he said. “One of the reasons we use so much water during the summer, especially in the residential sector, is that irrigation systems we have in place are extremely inefficient. You see water on the sidewalk or water running down the street. That is not efficient and beneficial use.” ...

A water meter on a church in Taos, New Mexico, shot by Brian Thomas, who is releasing this glamorous image into the public domain

Smart gardening practices can reduce climate impact

Heidi Kratsch in in Reno Gazette-Journal: …Warming also is causing earlier spring warming, leading to a change in the timing for flowering in some plants. This affects the range of their natural occurrence and the survival of the insects that pollinate them. In fact, the American Horticultural Society recently updated their hardiness zone map, based on temperature data collected during the past 16 years to reflect the rising earth temperatures. Some areas of the country have shifted one or two hardiness zones based on the new data.

…So what can you, an avid gardener, do about it? A lot. Not only can you reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, you can grow plants, which remove carbon from the atmosphere and sequester it in their living tissues where it can do no harm to our environment. In fact, gardening is one of the few activities that, if done consciously, can be carbon neutral. The following are tips for reducing your greenhouse gas emissions and turning your garden into a net carbon sink:

• Preserve existing trees and shrubs in your yard, and plant more. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants remove carbon from the air and convert it to sugars. Sugars fuel plant growth, and this process provides humans with life-supporting oxygen. Because woody plants get very large and live a long time, they sequester a lot of carbon for a long time.
• Feed the soil, not the plants. Plants don't need fertilizers, they need nutrients to survive. Fertilizers do provide nutrients but at a cost. Fossil-fuel-based fertilizers emit greenhouse gases as they are manufactured….
• …Spread a thin layer of organic matter on the lawn in spring to provide nutrients, and don't add fertilizers during the heat of summer when most lawns are semi-dormant and not actively growing.
• Maximize planted areas, and minimize paved areas. Paved areas create heat, and paving materials emit carbon during their manufacture. Rather than heating up your yard, cool it down with plants.
• Ground covers can be planted in non-turf areas and used in strips between paved areas. They grow low to the ground and require little maintenance, all the while soaking up carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. What could be better?...

Thistles in the Swan Lake Nature Study Area in Reno, Nevada, shot by Ragesoss, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

An end to peat compost

Luke Walsh in edie.net: A phase out of all peat in compost has been put forward by the Government in an effort to cut down emissions of CO2. The plan would mean gardening centres and DIY stores would stop selling peat-based composts for the amateur gardening market within ten years.

The initiative is part of the Act on CO2 campaign and was launched last night (March 8), with the aim of convincing amateur gardeners. who use around 70% of the country's peat, to stop. The campaign focuses on raising awareness of the environmental impacts associated with peat and promoting a switch to peat-free alternatives in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and protect the valuable biodiversity and wildlife of lowland raised bogs.

Launching the Act on CO2 campaign at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which has been peat-free since 1992, Irish celebrity gardener Diarmuid Gavin, said: "Consumers' concern about what they can personally do to help protect the environment is at a record high…..

Chinese garden in the grounds of the Portmeirion estate, where "The Prisoner" was filmed way back when. No sign of Patrick McGoohan or Number 2! This view shot by Eirian Evans, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license