WaterSmart Resources

How to Embrace WaterSmart Living

The “eGuide to a WaterSmart Lifestyle” covers a wide array of topics, including landscape design, water-efficient plants, outdoor rooms, finding and fixing leaks, healthy soil, smart buys on plumbing fixtures, landscape maintenance and drought survival for gardens. It offers everything from design ideas for creating themed planting zones to strategies for using “graywater” at homes and irrigating efficiently. Features will be added regularly to reflect innovations and other developments.

eGuide to a WaterSmart Lifestyle

Certified WaterSmart Landscapers

Qualified Water Efficient Landscapers across San Diego County are trained in WaterSmart landscape practices such as plant selection, irrigation system design and water management. The list of certified graduates continues to grow and serve the region.

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homeowner guide watersmart landscaping guide cover

Homeowner’s WaterSmart Guide

This full-color, magazine-style guide provides homeowners with a variety of tools and ideas for starting and maintaining low-water-use yards. It covers everything from plant selection and placement to budgeting for landscape retrofits.

Homeowner’s WaterSmart Guide

Water Footprint Calculator

Estimates how much water homes use indoors and outdoors, compares consumption to average and highly efficient homes in the same area with same number of residents and suggests where to begin water-use efficiency improvements.

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cover of the san diego sustainable landscapes guide

Sustainable Landscaping Guide

Photos, diagrams and checklists for following sustainable landscaping principles including: climate-appropriate plants, high-efficiency irrigation equipment, rainwater capture and detention features, and soil amendments to improve water efficiency.

Sustainable Landscaping Guide

WaterSmart Gallery

The Water Authority has curated thousands of pictures of plants and garden designs that are well-suited to a Mediterranean climate. Take visual tours of beautiful, water-efficient landscapes through photographs that include hotlinks to plant information screens. Pictures are organized by landscape category to make them easy to find. Explore galleries of ideas for back yards, front yards, hillsides, patios, planters and other outdoor living areas.