It may be hard to believe, but fall is officially upon us. That means daytime temperatures are lowering, the nights are cooling off, and most of us are relieved to open the windows, turn down the...

Transporting and processing wastewater for 2.5 million people is not a small undertaking, which is precisely why an innovative partnership between five AMWUA cities is vital to keeping everything...

Our cities’ infrastructure is vital to making our daily lives function smoothly. Of all infrastructure types, water systems are the most fundamental to life by delivering safe and clean water...

Spring has arrived, and now is the perfect time for outdoor planning. With a little strategy and knowledge, it’s easy to design and maintain a landscape best suited to our climate. This is...

While some areas of the country are still dealing with winter weather, our thoughts have turned to spring here in Arizona, which means it’s the perfect time to do some outdoor planning. With...

Soon fall will officially be upon us, and most of us will be relieved to open the windows, turn down the air conditioner and venture outside to enjoy the fresh air once the temperatures finally...

The monsoon season has officially begun. Now, as we wait in anticipation of what we hope is significant rainfall, we need to take the necessary precautions to ensure we remain safe when those...

Here in the Valley, it is typical that much of our water use occurs outdoors and not inside the home. With such a significant amount of our water being used outside, it highlights the importance of...

We can live in the desert because we understand the significance of water conservation and efficiency as a necessity and not a temporary reaction. Arizona has always been an arid State, and...

With thoughts of spring swirling, now is the perfect time to do some outdoor planning. With a little strategy and knowledge, it’s easy to design, plant, and maintain a lovely,...

As we officially begin meteorological winter with December's arrival, temperatures, especially at night, begin to fall. After spending much time and money in our yards over the year, it's...

The daytime temperatures are finally on the decline and the evenings are cooler, which means now is an ideal time to start planning and get planting to transform your yard into the outdoor retreat...

Spring has sprung which means it is the perfect time to do some planning in your yard. It’s also a great way to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air while actively participating in...

With thoughts of spring swirling, now is the perfect time to do some outdoor planning. With a little strategy and knowledge, it’s easy to enjoy color in your desert yard all four seasons of...

During 2019, AMWUA celebrated its 50th year of existence. And over the course of this year we had the opportunity to share the story of AMWUA, highlighting accomplishments of the innovative...

We all want to have a stunning and sustainable desert landscape that transitions our yard into a private retreat, all while ensuring we are wise with our outdoor water use. However, knowing how to...

It’s patio season in the desert and it doesn’t take much to put your winter yard in top form and ready for winter guests. Here are five tips from our cities’ conservation...

Some day this June or July your city will reach peak demand for water. It’s not our thirst that drives the highest demand for drinking water each summer and we’re not washing more...

Lisa Osborne and her husband bought their City of Avondale home in 2008. They planted two citrus trees in the backyard that sat in a field of gravel for years and proceeded to turn brown. Until...

More than half the drinking water used in the Phoenix Metro area is used outdoors, mostly to irrigate landscapes. Desert dwellers irrigate a variety of plants, trees and grass all year long as the...

Flood irrigation can be a surprising sight in a desert Valley. Water comes pouring out of ditches, covering large parks, ball fields or yards in what looks like deep storm runoff. While the rest of...

AMWUA cities offer more than 70 free landscape classes throughout the year to help you grow a more beautiful yard with less water. Local experts introduce you to a wide variety of desert plants and...

So you’re looking at your trees and plants baking in the desert summer sun and you’re beginning to feel just a little sorry for them. Save your sympathy. Desert-adapted plants are built...

We're approaching peak demand season for city water departments, which means peak water bills for residents and businesses. The demand for water is at its highest in June or July when landscape...

Some professional landscapers suggest homeowners design sections of their landscape as they would design each room in their home. This image helps homeowners give their yards dimension with layers...

Since 1998, the City of Scottsdale has been treating about half of its wastewater to near drinking water standards. It's an expensive process that uses reverse osmosis technology, but the city...

The Sonoran Desert is an incomparable place to hike, bike, run, horseback ride and bird watch. When it comes to foraging for food, it's not so grand. Even those knowledgeable and enthusiastic...

Here's one of the easiest ways you can save money and water: learn how to manage your irrigation controller. AMWUA cities' conservation professionals continue to report that many...

Monsoon storms brought temperatures down and brought more desert dwellers out to their patios. It's the time of year when homeowners begin to reimagine their yards: a new tree here, some...

In writing about the monsoon season, I'm hoping we do not jinx having more storms. The monsoon season in the Valley is a great time of year for suddenly cooler temperatures and extraordinary...

In a 3.2-acre space hemmed in by traffic noise, office buildings and warehouse construction sits a living classroom. The University of Arizona's Maricopa County Cooperative Extension is a place...

Many Southwest cities help their utility customers pay for long-term water-saving changes they make to their homes and yards. These changes can include buying a more water-efficient toilet or...

People like the idea of reusing laundry water to irrigate their yards. It's called a laundry-to-landscape graywater system. Installing a graywater system is part of a growing movement of...

If you're working to make your landscape more water efficient, don't forget to add one of many drought-tolerant trees that thrive in the Metro Phoenix area. Trees can raise property value,...

Drought-tolerant plants and trees require less maintenance and water than a lawn. Yet, how do you remove grass, whether at your home, an HOA's common space, an apartment complex or a business?...

Succulents can steal the show in a drought-tolerant landscape. Their structural and exotic shapes add whimsy and originality to a desert yard. With a little knowledge, succulents are as easy to...

Cities need trees, including our desert cities. Trees help to mitigate the heat island, reduce ground temperatures in the evening and remove pollutants from the air. Trees raise property values,...

AMWUA started its weekly blog posts in March 2014. This is our 83rd message to a growing audience. The AMWUA Blog is designed to explain where the Valley's water comes from, how cities deliver,...

Here's the first rule about changing your landscaping: start with a plan. A plan takes a little know-how and right now many of your cities are offering classes about how to revamp, restore or...

Grass does have a role in our desert environment with proper care and appropriate irrigation. There are heat-tolerant and less thirsty varieties of turf for those who love that patch of green in...

Homeowners are quick to blame water meters when their water bills escalate. Water meters can malfunction, but an overcharge is rare. Water meters usually slow down with age. That means a faulty...

So you've selected desert-adapted plants and trees and installed a beautiful water-saving landscape. The key to maintaining your landscape's health, beauty, and longevity is watering...

We've all seen desert yards where three or four cactus plants are scattered across a sea of gravel. (We may see one when we look out our windows.) Then we've seen those dramatic desert...

AMWUA has been the go-to source for desert landscaping guides since desert landscaping was a novelty. Plant selection information remains the runaway favorite destination on our website. This...

Thinking about some changes to your yard? Upgrading your kitchen, bathroom or laundry?If you upgrade to a more water-efficient home, your city may be willing to contribute to your project. Seven...

Remember the first time you saw Phoenix? If you weren't born here, you most likely flew in and then drove down a freeway. The desert landscaping that lines our freeways is one of those cultural...

Desert dwellers love a good rain, but cities long considered stormwater runoff a nuisance. Cities built massive infrastructures to drain it away quickly before it could flood streets and yards. In...

Along with thirty conservation leaders and experts in the southwest, I've been wrestling with a project since 2013. It's part of the Moving Forward effort initiated by the Bureau of...

If you want to find out how to save water and keep a little grass in the back yard, how about asking a city with more than 400 acres of Bermuda to care for? The City of Scottsdale maintains 42...

During the last few decades, cities in the Phoenix Metropolitan area became bustling economic centers providing jobs and homes for millions of new residents. Development spread across what had been...

Are you paying more for your water than your neighbor? It's a real possibility. All 10 AMWUA member cities have tiered residential water rates. That means the more water you use, the more...

AMWUA member cities are focused on keeping water flowing in and out of your homes and businesses day in and day out. At AMWUA, we're all about solutions. Always have been. It's our job....

Etched on the wall at the entrance of the City of Scottsdale's Xeriscape Garden is this: "Demonstrating the Beauty of Saving Water." That is a lovely explanation of why some cities...

Tired of winter guests? How about inviting some colorful visitors to your backyard who can entertain you instead. It could be time to turn that bit of grass and gravel, with its smattering of...

Cities in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area are willing to give you money and free experts to make water-saving changes in your home or business. But each city creates a different package of...

In 1986, the Town of Gilbert began storing treated wastewater in a pond at Cooper and Elliot roads. It did not surprise town officials that the pond attracted birds, but they were surprised by how...

Each year an average family in the City of Tempe uses about 30,000 gallons of drinking water to wash clothes. Tempe is the first city in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area to help homeowners pay...

When it comes to protecting plants from cold weather, there are two types of desert homeowners: conscientious and casual. The conscientious have a plan. They are prepared with large...

In the last 22 months, the Phoenix Zoo reduced its water use by 20 percent. That saved the zoo $80,000 on its water bill over the past two years and conserved 19,500 million gallons of drinking...

You pay a landscaping company to save you the time and energy it takes to maintain a lovely green space. Twenty years ago, Arizona recognized that landscapers could do more. They could help their...

The Town of Gilbert helps homeowners associations take the guesswork out of irrigation costs. The town's voluntary program keeps landscapes looking lovely, saves money and water, and maintains...

The wrong tree in a desert yard can get ugly fast. Then, too, if the right tree is not correctly planted, nurtured or maintained it can die, grow in tortured directions, or fall over in a hard...

Desert shrubs do not thrive when homeowners and landscapers shear them into geometric shapes, such as balls, squares or inverted pyramids. Regular shearing weakens these shrubs, detracts from their...

Valley homeowners use as much as 70 percent of their water outside, particularly during the summer months. Here's the frustrating part: many homeowners can grow the same lovely outdoor spaces...

So you sit on your back porch during a good monsoon storm and watch sheets of rain fall off the edge of the roof. Where you see rain, there is a small group of people who see your watershed. These...

Green infrastructure is a vague name for a particular way of designing streets, sidewalks, plazas and parking lots to make better use of rainwater. Green infrastructure redirects more storm runoff...

A recent article in "Environmental Leader" magazine cited a study that called water conservation "low-hanging fruit" often ignored by property managers looking to save money....

MYTH 1: A desert garden means replacing grass with ugly gravel. Plants, not gravel, dominate the loveliest desert gardens. Gravel is a low-maintenance ground cover, or rock mulch, that reduces...

The city of Avondale gave Mae Jorgensen a $200 check when she removed the grass from her front yard and replaced it with desert landscaping. Avondale gave her another $200 when she removed the...