24 California Hotel & Lodging Association SPRING 2015 Landscaping controller, which turns on and off based on the weather and the current conditions. Another option to consider is drip irrigation. A soaker hose has a lot of very small holes and is placed along the roots of your plants that need moist soil. The water comes out slowly and very little evaporates because is it not being sprayed into the air. But, as with any type of irrigation, make sure you keep an eye on it to ensure it’s not overwatering or running off onto an impervious surface. In the spring, WaterSense promotes sprinkler spruce-up with these four steps: • INSPECT your system for clogged, broken, or missing sprinkler heads and replace where necessary. A broken head can waste 25,000 gallons of water in six months! • CONNECT sprinkler heads tightly to prevent water from pooling in puddles and harming plants. A leak as small as the tip of a pen can waste 6,300 gallons of water per month! • DIRECT sprinklers away from driveways and sidewalks to water only where needed. • SELECT a watering schedule that adjusts with the seasons, or replace your clock timer with a WaterSenselabeled irrigation controller, which uses local weather data to water only when needed. Renaturalization Lastly, have you heard of something called renaturalization? I hadn’t until recently. It basically means letting your lawn grow as it naturally would, without mowing, raking, or applying fertilizers. Now, this is probably not an option for a majority of you, since guests do not want to see a messy looking property, but what about trying it in a small area to see what happens? you might be surprised to learn what grows naturally in your region. Kelly Thompson is the Assoc. Manager of Sustainability at HD Supply Facilities Maintenance. She is LEED® Green Associate accredited and has participated in various environmental projects such as carbon footprinting, the LEED building certification process, and corporate social responsibility reporting.
CHLA lodging News Spring 2015
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