East Valley communities urge residents not to overseed their lawns

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -- Scottsdale, like Mesa, has urged residents not to overseed this year. It’s part of a growing trend of Valley communities asking families to be more mindful of the water supply.

Overseeding is adding grass seeds to a lawn during the fall, typically ryegrass, so that the grounds will be green instead of dormant brown grass in the wintertime. Unfortunately, the process uses a lot of water. Tie in the current drought, and it’s pushing cities to urge people not to overseed this year.

In Scottsdale, about 60% of the water bill for a single-family home is from outside watering.

“A lot of folks who will overseed their front yard it’s more of an aesthetic thing than a functional thing. We ask them to save water by having that conversation with your household on if you should overseed or not,” said Gretchen Baumgardner, Scottsdale’s water policy manager

For those who live in an HOA that makes you overseed, Scottsdale recently passed a city ordinance that goes into effect next month that allows homeowners to ignore their HOA’s overseeding policy.

No matter where you live, water experts recommend homeowners get their irrigation around this time of the year to help save water.

“What most everyone doesn’t realize is right now this is a decent potential for an irrigation leak, and you don’t even know about it or maybe you don’t even understand your irrigation timer. As we get into the cooler weather check your irrigation timer. It doesn’t need to go off as much as it does in the summer,” said Baumgardner.

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