Outdoor water use in the Valley tends to rise significantly as summer temperatures climb. Ensuring your system is functioning properly and watering correctly – deeply and less frequently...
We know the key to ensuring your landscape's health and beauty is watering correctly. While many people find outdoor watering a bit of a challenge in the desert, the reality is that achieving...
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...
As the attention to water continues to intensify, the spotlight on conservation efforts grows. Some question what Arizona and municipal water providers are doing regarding water conservation,...
A historic drought, warmer climate, and overuse have all contributed to water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell rapidly declining to an unprecedented point. While drastic cuts and a long-term...
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...
As our temperatures rise, so does outdoor water use in the Valley. We know the key to maintaining your landscape's health and beauty is watering correctly, but that can be a bit of a challenge...
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,...
Now that we have received a refreshing dose of rain, adding much-needed moisture to our yards, refreshing the air, and minimizing dust, many will be eager to get outdoors and tend to their trees...
Water-efficient landscapes are a must in our desert climate, but they don’t have to all be the same – adding your sense of style will make it your own and ensure your outdoor living...
Monsoon season has officially begun. As everyone takes precautions to ensure they remain safe during the storm season, it is also important to prepare your yard so it is monsoon ready. We want to...
The days are getting shorter and the shadows a little deeper. We’re all eager to spend more time outside, including making those changes to our landscape that we’ve been considering all...
An automated irrigation system waters your yard without you having to think about it – and that’s the problem. If you set the system and then forget it, this convenient device can...
Preparing to overseed your summer bermudagrass for a winter lawn? You’re way too early. That’s just one of the warnings offered by turfgrass researchers at the University of...
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...
It's the time of year when many homeowners are tired of the glare from their windows and are thinking about adding more shade to their yards. The beautiful combination of cactus, succulents and...
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...
Your city's water department does a great job using science and engineering, muscle and skill to get drinking water into your home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The water professionals at...
Is this your year to become a water advocate? Yes, I know, we're all pressed for time, but water advocacy doesn't have to take much time. What it takes is a question or a suggestion to the...
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...
Water leaks inside and outside the average American home waste up to 10,000 gallons of water a year. This drain on the country's drinking water supply is so critical that the U.S. Environmental...
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...
There wasn't much David Iwanski didn't know about Arizona water when he joined AMWUA's Board of Directors in 2014. Avondale Councilmember Iwanski trained as an attorney, spent four...
In the last two years, the Town of Gilbert has more than doubled the number of Homeowners Associations enrolled in a free program that takes the guesswork out of landscape irrigation. The program...
Water is life and nowhere is that more apparent than in the desert. Fountains and pools of water were built into ancient cities, including desert cities, for both practical and aesthetic reasons....
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...
As you fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport bright blue dots mark thousands of backyard pools. For decades, backyard pools have been as common as sunshine in Valley neighborhoods. Many...
Jim Lane's resume is packed with past and present memberships on important governing boards, such as the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and Maricopa Association of Governments. After...
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?...
Homeowners Associations (HOA) face a difficult balance trying to keep their common areas looking attractive while also keeping water bills under control. The City of Phoenix is the latest AMWUA...
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,...
"Master" seems like a grand title for a gardener, doesn't it? It's not an easy title to earn and requires serious volunteer work. But if you love plants and are committed to...
Arizona desert cities have a distinctive style. There are few other cities where you'll find mesquite and palo verde trees in parks, giant blue agaves and golden barrel cactus in yards,...
The people who keep school buildings operating have a big job, and data from the City of Phoenix show they're doing it while saving water. Numbers from the city indicate that the volume of...
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...
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...
There are 11 neighborhoods in the Town of Gilbert where residents have collectively saved 135 million gallons of water over five years. This achievement didn't happen by accident. About 25...
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...
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...
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...
Do you remember the old low-flow shower heads? Some of them were awful, weren't they? Those old shower heads began to give water-efficient fixtures an image problem that was hard to shake....
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...
There is almost always a decision to be made in a hotel bathroom. You can save water and hang up your towel for a second day's use or throw it on the floor, signaling the housekeeper to provide...
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...
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...
A different sort of national environmental organization has set its sights on Arizona. Change the Course wants to help maintain enough water in Arizona rivers to keep plants, birds and fish...
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...
AMWUA would like to introduce you to your plumbing and simple ways to keep it working soundly. AMWUA's new Smart Home Water Guide website is designed to help both bumbling and handy homeowners...
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...
Baby and facial wipes are one of the new problems for cities' wastewater systems. Just because a product is labeled flushable or disposable doesn't make it immediately biodegradable....
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...
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...
Two companies contain and clean contaminated groundwater under the Phoenix Goodyear Airport located in the west Valley. That's not the only good news. Now both of these companies are saving the...
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...