What exactly is smart irrigation? To me, it’s using water as sparingly, efficiently, and sustainably as possible. I am a huge hater of lawn sprinklers, for example. We don’t use one in our yard, though many of our neighbors do. I can’t stand to watch the water run and run just so they can have the “greenest” yards possible. Ours is actually pretty green just from the rain, though I’ve recently taken to using grey water, too.

I do understand that some areas need manual irrigation, especially in dry regions where people are growing food. (Golf courses, to me, are definitely not an excuse to waste millions of gallons of water; I’d rather we took out all the golf courses and made them into sustainable communities and co-ops for the homeless, myself.) If you do have to irrigate, how can you do so smartly?

Here are a few ways to conserve as much water as possible while during irrigation.

Use grey water. Like I mentioned before, it’s an empowering act—reusing the water from your dishes, bathtub, and anything else you’ve already used to water flowers and plants gives a whole new meaning to recycling.

Use rain barrels. Capture the rain when it does come and keep some extra on hand for watering with rain barrels. There are so many varieties available (Ooh, I see several I want for Christmas! My husband says he’s going to build me one, however.), so why not just use what already comes from the sky for free? Then you may not have to waste any water.

Use an automatic timer. Be sure to not just leave your water running all day—what a waste of precious resources! Instead, set your sprinkler system to a timer so it will only run as long as you know your lawn needs.

Landscape in a smart way. You can choose lots of plants—particularly native ones if you live in dry areas—that don’t need much water. You can also set up your landscaping to prevent erosion and loss of water; ask a nursery attendant to help you plan out your garden as smartly as possible. Don’t put plants that need lots of water with plants that have little moisture requirements, for example; group them together to keep their needs easily satisfied with a minimal amount of water. Be sure to use shade trees when you can to help prevent drying out as well.