Thanks to the recent rain, your sprinkler timer should remain off until your soil dries out.

The general rule of thumb is for every inch of rain we receive, watering should be delayed one week. For the approximately 2 inches we received recently, timers should be turned off for at least two weeks for your thirstiest plants.

In addition, the recent power outage may cause sprinkler timers to go on a default setting and water your landscape every night. Please check your timer and make sure it is turned off. If you do not have a working back-up battery in your timer, you may lose all your programs and the default program will often double water usage and water bills.

The recent rainfall will quench the thirst of many gardens but has not changed the city’s water supply outlook or the current drought stage. We are relying on our community to continue conserving water during the rainy season. One simple way to conserve now is to turn your sprinkler timer off and only turn it on manually if needed.

For more information on saving water, click here or call 805.564.5460. Let’s save together!

— Madeline Ward is a water conservation coordinator for the City of Santa Barbara.