The weekly watering number is the amount of water in inches that you will need to water that week.

August 7-13, 2008:
• West metro:    1.03 inches
• South metro:   1.02 inches
• North metro:     .96 inches
• East metro: We currently do not have access to a weather station on the eastside, so use the following guidelines:

• NE use north metro
• SE use south metro
• Outer SE use 1.00 inches (average of the three)

Water smart! Sign up to receive the weekly watering number by email and start watering smart.

WEATHER UPDATE

The next 7 days will have a mix of warm, mild and hot weather likely.

Light showers may develop in the next few days, but these will not meet your lawn or garden's total watering needs. So, be sure to water accordingly.

Watering smart means using local weather conditions to help determine how much water your lawn and plants need to maintain healthy growing conditions.

Just as you release water vapor when you breathe, plants do too! It’s called transpiration.

When plants transpire faster than water is being replaced, they can wilt or die. Similarly, soils also lose moisture through evaporation.

Combine the two and you’ve got Evapotranspiration, or ET, which is the combination of water lost from the soil through evaporation and from plants through transpiration.

The amount of water lost through ET is equal to the amount of water that must be replaced to maintain healthy growing conditions.

Understanding the way your plants function helps provide the right amount of water to ensure a healthy landscape and maximizes the efficiency of water applied to your landscape. By using our weekly ET number as a guide, you can create an efficient watering schedule for your landscape.

Just remember:

• ET varies for different types of plants.
• ET changes depending on the weather.
• ET is affected by amount of sun, wind and air temperatures.
• ET values are calculated from local weather conditions to help you determine how much water is needed for your landscape.

So, why are we talking about it?
Here in the Portland metro area, water use can more than double in the summer months. Unfortunately, our usage increases at a time when there is less water available to us.

Understanding the way your plants work allows you to provide the right amount of water to ensure a healthy landscape and maximizes the benefit of each gallon of water used.

By making a few simple changes to your watering routine, you can make a big difference for your plants and your pocketbook.

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