Silver Bow Kiwanis Kiwanis Club Meeting, Aug 31, '10

Tim reminded us of the game this Saturday at Tech, and passed around a signup sheet for people who can help take tickets. Roger reminded everyone of the cleanup on the 18th. Jack has the road divided up to make short sections for each team. More on both of these events is on the web site.

Then Jeremy Weber talked to us about water conservation. Only 2% of the world's water is fresh water, and only a fraction of that is available for our use. Almost 50% of our water use in the US goes to landscape maintenance. In the US, personal "indoor" water use is 120-140 gallons per day per person. That compares to about 25 gallons per day worldwide.

The Ogallala Aquifer is a large body of ground water which provides about 30% of the nation's irrigation water - more water is drawn out of this aquifer yearly than flows through the Colorado River, but this aquifer only refills very slowly and only from one area in Nebraska.

Proper lawn watering not only saves water, but also reduces the risk of, or eliminates many problems and diseases. Rather than watering about 20 minutes per day, as most people do, if you water for about 45 minutes, twice a week, you use less water and you have a more stable lawn that can reach deeper water. You also allow the surface to dry out, eliminating many fungi that can cause problems for your lawn. Also, using native grasses in your lawn and native plants in your landscaping reduces the need for watering, since you are using plants that are more adapted to the local climate. However, there are also drawbacks to using these plants, and you should research those before using them.

You can also save water - and help your trees - by starting to ween them off water in August, stopping their water by mid-September, then giving them one last watering after the first freeze. This helps them to winter over properly and reduces winter kill.

After jeremy finished, Adam showed the club how to upload their own photos to the photo gallery here on the club's web site. Suggesting a photo only takes a couple minutes, and you can start the process from any page in the gallery when you are logged in.

Presentation

Jeremy Weber, County Extension Agent

Menu

Open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes

Attendees

25

Event Updated

2:16 Tuesday, August 31, 2010