- (Public Value) UCANR: Protecting California's natural resources
- Author: Ryan Daugherty
Water is essential for nurturing vibrant gardens and landscapes. By leveraging water meters, we can effectively monitor water usage, detect leaks, and optimize irrigation practices, ensuring every drop contributes to the sustainability and vitality of our gardens.
Understanding how to read a water meter is invaluable. It allows users to gauge water usage over time, detect leaks, and facilitates utility billing based on actual water consumption. Knowing how to read a water meter is great for tracking your yard's usage and spotting leaks.
How to Read a Water Meter
Most water meters are situated outside near the curb in a concrete box, marked with "water." Use a meter key or large screwdriver to remove the lid. Always check for spiders or other critters before reaching inside.
Understanding the Display
There are three types of water meters: straight-reading meters, digital-reading meters, and round-reading meters. Each type operates differently, displaying and indicating water usage differently.
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Straight-Reading Meters: Have black numbers on a white background. Usually, for residential meters, one sweep of the face equals 10 gallons or 1 cubic foot of water. The black numbers with a white background reflect the current meter read either in 1,000 gallons or CCF (1 CCF=100 Cubic Feet).
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Digital-Reading Meters: Display a flashing indicator when water flows. The display might alternate between the meter reading and the flow rate.
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Round-Reading Meters: These are less common and feature several separate dials. Read each dial from left to right, noting the value indicated by each.
Calculating Usage
Take a reading and run your irrigation. After you're done, subtract the previous reading from the current one to determine the water usage within that specific period. For instance, if the previous reading was 3,000 gallons and the current reading is 3,500 gallons, the usage is 500 gallons.
Basic Leak Detection Using a Water Meter
Some meters have flow indicators, like a small triangle, star, or gear that moves when water flows through it. This can be useful in detecting leaks. Ensure no water is being used on the property: turn off faucets, fixtures, automatic appliances like ice machines, don't flush toilets, and turn off the irrigation system. Look at the low-flow indicator on the meter. Any movement might indicate a leak.
If your meter doesn't have a flow indicator, mark the position of the hand or record the numbers on the meter. Wait for a while, such as 30 minutes, without using any water. After that, recheck your meter. Any change in position or numbers indicates a potential leak.
Subtract the initial reading from the final reading taken after the waiting period to calculate the leak rate (gallons or cubic feet per minute).
Understanding how to accurately read a water meter and perform basic leak detection will make it easier to manage your water consumption efficiently and identify potential issues for timely repairs.
- Author: Christine Casey
The Haven was created in 2009: we celebrate our 15th anniversary this year. I joined the garden in 2012 and was tasked with creating an outreach and education program. Tours, social media pages, classes, and this blog soon followed. This will end in June, when my position at the Haven is being eliminated.
I've enjoyed introducing so many of you to bees, providing information about gardens and bees, and answering your questions. Working with our amazing volunteers and donors has been extraordinary.
This blog is a short reflection on what I've learned from this work. Look for additional posts throughout May that will provide more bee gardening information, including resources beyond the Haven.
Some random thoughts:
- Children often arrive at the Haven afraid of bees but leave excited to learn more. If you are an adult with children in your life, take advantage of their curiosity to teach them about the natural world. Events like the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day are a great place to start.
- You're probably overwatering your garden. Irrigation information for California gardens is here.
- Go on as many garden tours as you can. There's always more to learn.
- There's a lot of bad gardening information on social media. Stick with reputable sources like universities, government agencies, and good independent garden centers.
- In shared public spaces, please don't litter or use a speakerphone.
- Small public gardens and museums are passionate about what we do but operate with minimal resources. Please give what you can and understand that we can't always meet every need or provide all the programs we'd like to.
- Support local nurseries and plant sales.
- Pick up after your dog and leash them in areas where it's required.
- Leave some bare soil for ground-nesting bees.
- There's always room for one more plant.
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
The multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, has a bad reputation. There is a common myth online that this lady beetle (ladybug) is invasive and aggressive, which can sometimes lead to people killing these beetles.
While this species of lady beetle was introduced to California from Asia in the 1990s to control aphid pests, it is not considered invasive. For an organism to be considered invasive it must be nonnative and cause harm to the environment, economy, or human health. Fortunately, the multicolored Asian lady beetle does not cause harm. Like many native lady beetle species, it feeds on pest insects like psyllids, scales, and especially aphids.
In the fall, multicolored Asian lady beetles can become a nuisance when they enter homes seeking shelter to overwinter. If you experience this problem, you can vacuum or sweep them up. Make sure windows, doors, and other openings to the outside are properly sealed to prevent the lady beetles and other insects from coming indoors. In the garden, adults may be attracted to ripening fruit when pest populations are low. In general, there is no need to control these lady beetles with pesticides.
Find out more about these predators and other beneficial insects in the UC IPM Natural Enemies Gallery.
- Author: Christine Casey
I've written previously about the Haven's research on bees and gardens. This work included a look at bee preferences for common California landscape plants and work to help growers and landscapers provide the healthiest plants for bees.
Studies on bee plant preferences were described in this blog post, and the first year's results (2022) of our current project developing bee sampling methods for growers and landscapers was described in this post.
The current project is an evaluation of a common insect sampling method, timed counts, with a novel method called snapshot counts. As the name suggests, the snapshot methods uses several quick counts rather than one longer timed count to assess the number of bees choosing a plant. Our goal was to see if the faster snapshot method could provide bee counts with accuracy similar to the widely used timed count method.
The speed of the snapshot method could allow it to be included with other routine insect sampling done by growers and landscapers. This would provide a way to assess the relative attractiveness of a nursery or landscape plant mix to bees, allowing for both accurate plant recommendations and targeting of bee-compatible pest management.
Trials took place at locations in San Diego County, the center of California's nursery industry.
While the average number of bees observed per plant differs between the two methods, the pattern of preference is the same for both (Fig. 2). This is confirmed by regression analysis (Fig. 3), which found a strong correlation between the two methods
Our goal was not to determine the absolute number of bees expected on a plant, as that will vary with location, season, and weather. Rather, we wanted to understand which plants are more likely to be chosen within a plant mix. Growers can then compare new plant varieties to those with known attractiveness to determine how they'll fit into a bee garden.
- Author: Lilyana Elola
Rangeland Stewardship: Grazing for Ecosystem Resilience
Principal Investigators Dr. Valerie Eviner and Dr. Mary Cadenasso of UC Davis's Department of Plant Sciences have collaborated with the Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) to design a study that investigates the impacts of grazing and prescribed burning on plant communities and ecosystem services in California's grasslands. Using both permanent plots and more flexible adaptive management studies, their project aims to understand how different management practices can enhance the “building blocks of resilience” in these systems– features such as the wildflower seedbank and increased water storage in soi,l which are critical for sustaining California grasslands in the face of environmental challenges such as invasive species, droughts, and wildfires.
Dr. Valerie Eviner collecting data at the Hopland Research and Extension Center
Hopland, CA
In an interview with HREC, Ecosystem and Restoration Ecology professor Dr. Eviner shared insights on emerging trends and technologies poised to shape ecological research in the coming decade. She highlighted how recent advancements in statistical tools have significantly transformed ecological research by allowing researchers to better understand the complex connections within ecosystems. She also underscored the significance of satellite and drone imagery in providing a broader perspective of plant ecology. Dr. Eviner also emphasized that recent state legislation is facilitating the widespread use of prescribed burning, which “presents a unique opportunity to explore the role of fire in grassland ecosystems through controlled experiments”. Additionally, she emphasized the growing importance of community-engaged research and working with diverse communities to foster responsible stewardship of natural resources. She concluded by emphasizing that “while data production is important, it lacks context without the wisdom cultivated through long-term observations on the land, often through thoughtful natural resource stewardship.”
A persistent challenge in developing research that is useful to land managers and policy makers is that many experiments are limited in size and duration. “Partnering with HREC allows us to conduct long-term research at the management scale, which is often not feasible at other research sites.” Dr. Eviner highlighted. According to Dr. Eviner, HREC has demonstrated a “commitment to adaptive management research” that allows her research team to gain valuable insights into what ecological management practices work and which don't– and how that may change over time.
In Dr. Eviner's opinion, the most pressing environmental challenge facing the world today is extreme events like wildfire and drought. She argues that in order for ecological research to be effective, “Science has to contribute to explaining and preparing communities for events they've never seen before.” The best path forward is for scientists to work in collaboration with land managers and policymakers to identify challenges and gaps in our understanding, and prioritize research that addresses future scenarios”. She highlights the critical role of science in identifying the foundations of ecosystem resilience, advocating for practices like retaining dead plant material to bolster soil health and water retention. Dr. Eviner also prompts a reassessment of traditional management goals in light of evolving environmental conditions, suggesting a shift towards promoting root production and carbon sequestration in grazed pastures. Furthermore, she underscores the importance of organizations such as the California Climate and Agriculture Network, in informing climate change policies and mitigation strategies at the state level.
Dr. Eviner envisions that the insights from her ecological research can extend beyond academia, effectively influencing positive change among various audiences. She emphasizes the importance of tailoring communication strategies to different groups. For instance, she notes that when engaging with land managers, there's no need to elaborate on the unprecedented environmental challenges; they are already acutely aware. Instead, discussions can focus on pragmatic approaches for adaptation and resilience.
Rangeland at the Hopland Research and Extension Center
Hopland, CA
When communicating with the general public, Dr. Eviner draws inspiration from experts like Katharine Hayhoe, renowned for her series "Global Weirding." She's observed a significant shift in public perception over the past two decades, with many individuals now having firsthand experiences of climate-related disruptions, such as living through wildfire smoke. “Younger generations, in particular, are increasingly aware of these issues” Dr. Eviner notes. Teaching at UC Davis, Dr. Eviner notices a growing enthusiasm among students for addressing environmental challenges, evidenced by the burgeoning interest in fields like restoration ecology and ecosystem management. She highlights a remarkable growth in class sizes and a prevalence of waiting lists for courses focused on these topics.This quantifiable interest in the topic of land/ecosystem management is indicative of a surge in passionate individuals dedicated to finding solutions.
Dr. Eviner's personal values and perspectives play a significant role in shaping her research priorities. She emphasizes the importance of land grant universities, which not only focus on theoretical science but also prioritize practical research that enhances California agriculture and environment. Reflecting on her own journey into ecology, Dr. Eviner recalls that during her graduate studies, it seemed like there was a tough choice between a focus on research or community engagement , but that has changed due to trail blazers such as her Ph.D. advisor, Dr. F Stuart Chapin III, whose dedication to both research and community involvement left a lasting impression on her work.
While she acknowledges the value of big data, Dr. Eviner ultimately believes that her research stands out due to its “emphasis on hands-on experience under changing conditions”. Much like land managers who adapt their perspectives based on real-time observations, conducting research in dynamic environments requires a keen awareness that different players in an ecosystem may be important under different conditions- so that we have to be flexible in what we're measuring. As an example, she highlights that when measuring seed survival after the 2018 Mendocino wildfire, on-the-ground observations made it apparent that ants played a large role in collecting viable seeds and concentrating them into “islands of recovery” of grasses. Dr. Eviner stresses the importance of collaborating with land managers and leveraging local wisdom, recognizing that even if individuals don't agree on the explanations of how a system works, they can often agree on the observations that led to those explanations, providing valuable context and wisdom.