As bills go up every day, you may find your water bills going up as well. Higher and higher water bills can lead you to question just how much water your landscaping really needs. This just might be the time to think about water efficiency in your landscaping.

A significant proportion (39%) of household water is used in the garden.

Most people use either some type of automated watering system or a sprinkler that is dragged from spot to spot to water their landscaping. This goes for big corporations right down to the home owner with a speck of lawn. You have probably seen water from automated watering systems running off the grass and running down the street. This is not exactly an efficient use of water, a resource which is becoming harder to get in the West. Even in the East, many municipalities are having clean water problems. It just doesn't make sense to waste water.

Yet that is just what most homeowners use on their landscaping - an inefficient and wasteful watering system. In this article we will give you a few tips about watering your landscaping and making it more efficient and less wasteful.

Use an appropriate watering system. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the water drop delivered and the closer to the ground the better it is. A system which delivers a fine spray high into the air will loose much of the water to evaporation and wind.

Hand held hose watering was found in studies to be the most efficient way to deliver moisture to your landscaping. This method uses 33% less water than the average household.

When measuring automated watering systems, the studies found that in ground sprinkler systems used 35% more and those with automated timers used 47% more water than households that did not use such automated watering systems. You may want to rethink those automated systems the next time your water bill comes in.

Adding rain sensors or, better yet, soil moisture sensors to your automated watering system saved water. Such sensors insure your watering system doesn't come on in the middle of a rainstorm or right after one when the ground is already soaked.

Among the automated watering systems used in landscaping, the drip irrigation systems were found to be more efficient using only 16% more water than used by non-automated watering households. Add the above sensors and you will have a better system.

Lastly, do not over water. This goes to more than not watering after a rainstorm. Don't give your landscaping plants more water than they need. It means watering according to your soil's requirements. Adjust your watering schedule from what is needed in summer with the higher temperatures to what is needed in the autumn when lower temperatures come around.