PITTSBURGH (KDKA)– The Department of Environmental Protection has declared a drought watch.

It’s a call for voluntary water conservation.

In your home, you can do things like taking shorter showers, turning the faucets off while you’re brushing your teeth and making sure your faucets and toilet don’t drip.

But, if you have landscaping, you can use up to 30 percent of water outside your home and there are ways to conserve that too.

One of the easiest ways to cut down on water use is to stop watering your lawn. Many already have decided it’s not worth the effort.

“It’s turned brown every year and then it comes back in the fall whenever it rains again so it’s really not a big deal,” said Bill Conrad, who conserves water.

That doesn’t mean you have to have your landscaping die. You can still water flowers and plants.

At Soergel’s Orchards, they use a drip watering system. If you don’t have a drip hose, there is another way to help keep your plants healthy. At Soergel’s, they use straw to keep moisture around the plant, something you can also accomplish with mulch.

“Anything that you can do to keep the moisture in the ground. Straw is excellent or even mulch that help keep that moisture in the ground,” Reed Soergel said.

Soergel’s says fruit trees will be OK because they have deep roots.

Meantime, if everyone conserves just 5 percent of the water they use, there should be no call for mandatory conservation.

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DEP: Drought Watch
Soergel Orchards