More About Water in A Dry Season

As mentioned in the previous post, landowners play a big role in preserving and protecting the Island’s groundwater.  Lots has been published, and rightly, about the protecting part.  The preserving part is just as important.

Why emphasize groundwater preservation too?  Because we don’t know how much water our aquifer(s) contains.  It makes sense, then, to go easy on the supply and avoid the risk of depleting it faster than it can re-charge.  There’s also the risk that dramatic drawdowns can shrink the size of the aquifer, limiting its ability to accept re-charge—a permanent and potentially disastrous change.

Landowners can take some simple steps to help preserve groundwater:

If you get your water from one of the large Group A water districts or Group B water systems on the Island, ask your manager about water usage systemwide.  How does your system stack up against published metrics on water usage?

If you’re an owner of one of the 1,300 or so private wells on the Island, you can get more hands-on.  Install a water meter to determine how much water your household uses.  Private-well owners often have little idea of how much water they use because they don’t get a water bill or, in some cases, even a separate electric bill for their pumping costs.  Meter your use to get a handle on it.

Fix any waterline leaks.  You could be losing thousands of gallons before water lines even reach where you’re using water.  To see if you have leaks, look for suspiciously wet spots on the ground’s surface between serviced buildings and your well or wellhouse .  Listen for the sound of running water in your house when no water is being used and everything’s quiet—a sure sign of leakage somewhere in the system.  Go into your basement or crawlspace and look for leaks in supply lines.

Doesn’t need saying but does:  repair leaky household fixtures.  Hundreds of gallons of water can be wasted for want of a new valve cartridge or toilet flapper.

Just assume that, if you have a lawn-irrigation system, you may have leaks, probably at a lawn-mowered sprinkler head.  These systems are often poorly installed and/or abused, so they need more monitoring than you may think. If you can’t accept that turf grass, like all grasses, is supposed to go dormant in warm weather and that brown is its natural summer look and not a sign that it’s dead (which it isn’t), at least maintain the irrigation system producing the green.

If you have ornamental plantings or a kitchen garden, don’t water with a hose, can, or bucket.  Install drip irrigation, which uses much less water and puts it where you want it.  Include a timer in your system and dial in the minimum amount of water needed.