To determine your water requirements and needs consider the following:

1. Landscape Irrigation

• Drip Irrigation System gallons used per cycle
• Sprinkler Irrigation System gallons used per cycle
• Combination of both Drip and Sprinkler
• Planting Types
• Vegetable Garden - most water demanding
• Turf - to be watered with a sprinkler system
• Drought tolerant turf
• High water demanding turf
• Shrubs
• Drought tolerant shrubs
• High water demanding shrubs
• Perennials
• Drought tolerant perennials
• High water demanding perennials
• Annuals
• Other Water Uses
• Washing cars
• Pressure washing home or driveway
• Topping of pond, pool, hot tub
• Flushing toilets - check county codes
• Other

Calculating your actual water usage for your landscape:

• Determine how much water you use during the summer as this is the highest usage time of the year (review county bills).
• Take your average water used during Summer months and subtract the average water used during the winter. This will give you the approximate amount of water used on your landscape during the summer. Your goal is to collect this amount of rainwater to irrigate your landscape.