Water is a precious resource and the articles being written in trade publications just brush the surface not the depth of the issue. The reason I say this is they all talk about more efficient irrigation methods which is great but the real water savings is deeper. Healthy soil with a good content of organic matter in could save more water than a smart irrigation system. This has been written about over and over but it doesn’t seem to sink in.
One magazine was talking about the infiltration rate of water based on soil type and compaction and their numbers for a clay or silt soil were from .01 to 1″ per hour. That is because the answer is in taking better care of the soil the infiltration rate can be increased.
I have talked about this before and will keep talking about it until they get it. Imagine you just had a lawn treatment with chemicals and an hour later a big rain came dumping over an inch well if the soil can’t infiltrate more tan .1″ per hour guess where did the water and chemicals go. you guessed it down to your local stream and possibly to the reservoir that you eventually get your drinking water from. All because you don’t have enough organic matter in your soil to allow better infiltration and water holding. Michigan state extension has already written about need more organic mater in our soils like compost to cause the soil to hold more water and have better infiltration.
If you begin to get it you can tell everyone else.
