Help the planet and your budget. Maintaining a nice green lawn can be a costly expense and a huge draw on the water supply. The Water Authority of Great Neck North hopes to provide its customers with tips to conserve water during the heat of the summer.
These tips include maintaining the grass at a height of two inches. Taller blades shade the roots and hold soil moisture more efficiently. Cut the lawn frequently with a mulching mower and leave behind the clippings to help retain moisture and provide essential nutrients as the clippings decompose. Check regularly to ensure irrigation systems have no leaks or broken sprinkler heads. Heavy puddling can be a sign of a leak. Make sure watering is limited to grass and plantings and that you’re not overwatering on to driveways or roadways. Adjust sprinkler clocks to water less in shaded areas and longer in areas affected by the sun. Replace the washers each season to prevent trickling and create a tight seal where the garden hose connects to the spigot, nozzles and manual sprinklers.
Watering your property should not take place every day. Make sure that watering is limited to grass and plantings on your allotted sprinkling days. This will prevent overwatering that can include areas of the roadway and your driveway. Also, be sure to adjust sprinkler clocks to water for less time in shaded areas and longer times in areas that receive a lot of direct sunlight.
Be sure to make sure that your rain gauge/moisture sensor is functioning to ensure that your sprinklers are not going off after or during rain fall. While it’s common knowledge that lack of water can have serious consequences for most plant life, so too can overwatering. Too much irrigation promotes fungus, encourages weeds and causes the soil to become full of water, preventing enough room for oxygen to get in and carbon dioxide to get out. Unable to breathe, the grass will eventually die.
Use these tips to help conserve water and save you money.
The Water Authority of Great Neck North was established in 1985 as a public benefit corporation serving a residential population of approximately 32,400. The Authority supplies public water to the northern area of the Great Neck peninsula encompassing the villages of Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Kensington, Kings Point, Saddle Rock, and portions of Great Neck Plaza, Thomaston, and the unincorporated area of the Town of North Hempstead. The Board of Directors of the Water Authority is comprised of the mayors or their respective designees from each of the seven villages and the supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead.
—Submitted by the Water Authority of Great Neck North
