There are so many strategies for using water more wisely and efficiently. Ideally all the water that falls on your property should infiltrate into the soil layer. The motto slow it, sink it, spread it, store it, is how we think of the water that falls on the land. If you have more “carbon” in the soil you can greatly enhance the water holding capacity of the land. Carbon in the form of biomass, compost and mulch allows the water the comes from rain or irrigation to stay in the soil many times longer than without it. Lawns also take an enormous amount of water and energy to maintain. The city of Ashland and many other cities in the west are encouraging people to remove their lawns and will pay you to do so. We can replace the lawn with a beautiful drought tolerant garden. Wise water strategies can help with an overall plan to keep water stored longer.

Building a swale at an earthworks class. Swales are a first line to slow water moving across a landscape. Then the water has time to sink into the soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A simple grey water system is connecting the washing machine to a series of mulch basins in your yard to water trees and shrubs in the warm months. We design and install grey water systems for clients throughout Southern Oregon. Grey water is legal in Oregon with a permit from the dept of Environmental Quality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain gardens are passive rain harvesting solutions to capture runoff from a roof or hard surface and store the water in a garden. The soil is amended in the rain garden to increase the holding capacity so water can be stored for later use by the plants. Water is also stored by the plants roots and in the leaves. Rain gardens are simple ways to utilize water that would normally flow off site to create beautiful multi-functional landscape elements.

 

Call Rogue Water Solutions for a wise water design consultation – 541-488-0248