Water-wise tip: Adjust your lawn mower and save water

This is part of a weekly feature in Home & Garden, highlighting ways residents can save water.

▪  Mow less, save more.

You can keep your turf and save water, too. Just let the grass grow longer. Adjust your mower’s height setting to 3 inches. Studies show that little adjustment will save 16 to 50 gallons a day (depending on weather) for a typical Sacramento front lawn. Even with the more conservative estimate, that’s potential savings of about 6,000 gallons a year.

Taller grass also promotes deeper roots and more drought-tolerance. Long lawn reduces evaporation, making what water you use last longer. And as an added benefit, the tall grass shades out weed sprouts, so you’ll have fewer weeds.

For more tips, visit www.bewatersmart.info.

Debbie Arrington

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Water-wise tip: Adjust your lawn mower and save water."