CITY OF MANSFIELD'S UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
More than half of the water use by Mansfield households goes into lawns. Most people water too much and too often. SAVE WATER, MONEY, and WORK by following this easy rule of thumb and by knowing these tips.
Once each week, soak your lawn to a depth of 4 to 6 inches.
One inch of water is usually enough.
Check out our five day watering schedule.
HOW MUCH IS ONE INCH?
Check for yourself:
- Set 3-5 empty cans at different distances from your sprinkler.
- Run sprinklers for 30 minutes
- Add the inches of water in all cans. Divide total inches by the number of cans.
- Now you know how many inches of water your sprinkler applies in 1/2 hour.
- Adjust that time to determine how long you'll need to run your sprinkler to apply one inch of water.
The type and slope of the soil, the fertilizer used, the amount of water needed by specific plants and grass, and the efficiency of sprinklers all affect how often one needs to water.
Soil Type
Lawns on sandy soil require more frequent watering than lawns on loam or clay soils. Water can applied less often to clay and loam soils, but it should be applied more slowly to prevent runoff.
Slope
To avoid runoff on sloping areas, place sprinklers near the top of the slope. Apply water slowly for 5-15 minutes, off 15 minutes, on 5-15 minutes, etc. until the correct amount of water has been applied.
Trees, Shrubs & Groundcover
Established planting do well in the summer when watered about once a week, especially if mulch is placed around plants. Trees and shrubs require less frequent, but deeper watering than lawns. Soak to a depth of 6-8 inches once per month.
Using a low output sprinkler heads, bubblers, or drip irrigation systems help prevent runoff and are efficient ways to apply water. New planting require more frequent watering the first two years.
Go to the top of the page.