The Professional's Guide to Sustainable Landscaping
Resources to help you:
- Use water conservatively
- Build and maintain soil health
- Eliminate non-storm run-off to storm drains
- Use plants appropriate for their space, use, and climate
- Minimize green waste to the landfill
- Provide food and shelter for beneficial wildlife
- Minimize chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the environment through INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
GREEN GARDENER TRAINING
Course for professional maintenance gardeners
For more information and training presentationbs visit: Green Gardener Northern California
PLEASE NOTE
This website is no longer being regularly maintained (due to retirement) and some links may be broken. Our apologies.
UC Delivers
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Salt Tolerance of Landscape Plants for Reclaimed Water Irrigation
Water is a limited natural resource for most of the arid and semi-arid regions of the United States. Despite this, rapid population growth and development are occurring in these areas, especially California. Many municipal water providers are faced with the need to reduce demand for freshwater supplies while protecting against drought and cutting down on wastewater discharges into sensitive bays and estuaries. Agencies encourage the use of reclaimed or recycled water from wastewater treatment facilities for appropriate non-potable uses, including urban landscape irrigation. In 2000, 19.5 percent of recycled water in California was used for landscape irrigation, saving enough fresh water to supply 300,000 homes. An important caveat to the use of reclaimed water for landscape irrigation is that after most of the water treatment processes, sodium chloride is the most detrimental chemical compound remaining in the recycled water. Little information is available on the tolerance of common landscape plant species to the levels of salts found in reclaimed waters. This basic information is needed by landscape managers to ensure the maintenance of healthy landscapes, given the reality of increased use of reclaimed water for irrigation.