Florida Specifier: Why water conservation should be practiced year-round in Florida, not just during extreme droughts
For many Floridians, water conservation becomes a priority only when lawns begin to turn brown, lakes recede, springs stop flowing or water restrictions appear in the headlines. But starting last year, Florida experienced the third driest September-to-March period on record and, by April, almost all of the state was in a moderate to exceptional drought.
If we only wait until an extreme drought develops before thinking about conservation, we have already missed the chance to protect one of the state’s most important natural resources. Water conservation cannot just be an emergency response; it needs to be a year-round priority in Florida.
As someone who has spent decades studying landscape irrigation and water use, I constantly find myself telling homeowners that the most effective conservation practices are the ones implemented long before drought conditions even arrive. During a severe drought, everyone suddenly wants to save water. The problem is that sustainable water use doesn’t work well as a temporary reaction; it works when conservation is built into our daily decisions and landscape practices.
Florida’s landscapes can consume a tremendous amount of water when automatic irrigation systems continue running whether landscapes need water or not. Research from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) consistently shows that homeowners can often significantly reduce unnecessary irrigation without sacrificing healthy lawns or landscapes.
What surprises many people is just how much water a residential irrigation system uses. Even a well-designed and efficient system can use nearly 1,000 gallons of water during a single irrigation cycle, often much more.