The City of Ashland serves a community of about 20,000 people and provides several services including delivering high-quality drinking water to the residents of Ashland. The City is committed to managing our water supply efficiently in order to adequately sustain the water needs of our community now and into the future. To that end, Ashland has a robust water efficiency program and team that is dedicated to the preservation of our water resources. Through community education and advocacy for resource efficiency, we can ensure that our precious water resource will be here to serve the City of Ashland for years to come.
There are several programs and resources the City provides for assistance in reducing water use both indoors and outdoors. Our outdoor programs are focused on maintaining Ashland’s beautiful neighborhoods while also using water as efficiently as possible.
The Lawn Replacement Program offers rebates for removal of maintained and irrigated lawns that are replaced with climate-appropriate low water use landscapes and efficient irrigation systems.
The City’s Water Wise Landscaping website, www.ashlandsaveswater.org helps people design landscapes with plants that use less water. The site is intended to inspire the creation of landscapes that incorporate native species and other water wise plants that are not only attractive but are capable of using less water than traditional lawns.
The City’s efficiency team also offers free onsite irrigation evaluations to residential and commercial customers who have irrigation systems. These evaluations are offered during the summer months and consist of an assessment of the design, operation/management of sprinkler systems as well as assistance with programing controllers and developing watering schedules.
In addition to outdoor programs, the City of Ashland provides free hardware for residences and businesses to reduce water consumption indoors, including low flow faucets aerators, shower heads and spray rinse valves for commercial dishwashing. There are even rebates available for installing high efficiency WaterSense labeled toilets and Energy Star labeled washing machines.
The water efficiency team is currently developing information about graywater and rainwater catchment systems and are offering workshops on how to properly install these systems. A water use evaluation guide has been created to help customers determine how much graywater they produce using plumbing fixtures such as showers and washing machines.
The residents of Ashland understand the importance of managing our water resources efficiently and over the past five years have managed to save approximately 25 million gallons of water by participating in the City’s water efficiency programs. Learn more about these programs at www.ashlandsaveswater.org.
Contact Information:
Julie Smitherman
Water Conservation Specialist
541-552-2062