Ins and Outs of Water in Bend
Guest blog in partnership with City of Bend’s Water Program Managers in celebration of Earth Day.
Spring is here (woohoo!), and so is irrigation season. Did you know that landscape irrigation accounts for the majority of our summer water use in Bend?
Keeping this in mind, it’s super important to conduct regular system inspections, make routine irrigation schedule adjustments, and ensure that no irrigation is over-spraying or running off. In other words, don’t “set it and forget it.”
WaterSmart software offers City of Bend water customers access to their water use data, with the ability to compare to similar households and glean insight into opportunities for water conservation. As we begin to set up our irrigation systems this year, it’s the perfect time to register for an account and start saving water and money.
P.S. Are you playing the Earth Day Goosechase? If so… check out this fun challenge to test your water knowledge. Head to the City of Bend conservation website, WaterWiseTips.org. Find the link to the game on the Irrigation page to test your water I.Q. Upload a screenshot to win points! (If you’re not familiar with the Goosechase, check out The Environmental Center’s Earth Day webpage to learn more.)
City of Bend offers a lot of tips and ideas for water conservation at home – both indoors and outdoors. And they’ve also designed programming for students, available on the Clean Water Works Kids webpage. Students can enter a film contest and complete a printer-friendly kids’ activity guide about preventing water pollution.
The film contest deadline is June 1st, and this year’s theme is about preventing water pollution from automobile wheels. The grand prize winner of the contests receives the opportunity to work with local media professionals at Central Oregon Daily News / Zolo Media to remake their student video into a professional PSA to be aired on local stations and at the BendFilm festival.
Kids Video Contest Information PSA on Vimeo.