{"id":22361,"date":"2025-05-07T22:11:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T22:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/from-weeds-to-watering-cortez-reminds-residents-of-summer-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:12:58","slug":"from-weeds-to-watering-cortez-reminds-residents-of-summer-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/from-weeds-to-watering-cortez-reminds-residents-of-summer-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"From weeds to watering, Cortez reminds residents of summer rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ordinance
Ordinance No. 1013, established in Cortez in 2004, restricts the watering of lawns between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. from May 15 to Sept. 15 each year. (Adobe stock image)<\/span>Valitov Rashid<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The days are getting progressively longer, flowers are in bloom, and the city of Cortez is reminding residents of the \u201cdo\u2019s\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019ts\u201d with summer on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Weeds<\/div>\n

Homes within city limits must remove \u201cundesirable plants, including Russian, spotted and diffuse knapweeds and leafy spurge,\u201d a city news release reads.<\/p>\n

Lawns and grass must be trimmed, kept below 6 inches.<\/p>\n

Such efforts keeps \u201cCortez beautiful and weed-free,\u201d and also conserves water, the news release said.<\/p>\n

Water restrictions<\/div>\n

There are two types of water restrictions: Voluntary and mandatory.<\/p>\n

Voluntary restrictions: These are enforced from April 1 to Oct. 31 each year. Property owners are asked \u201cto limit yard watering from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on specific days determined by the numerical day and the house number,\u201d the news release reads. Odd home addresses water on odd days, even ones water on even days. Nobody waters on the 31st.Mandatory restrictions: Effective May 15, yard watering is prohibited from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/div>\n

\u201cLawns should be watered in the early morning between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. or late evening between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.,\u201d a 2022 water conservation document <\/a>for the city reads.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because \u201cmost water evaporates during the heat of day.\u201d<\/p>\n

That document also encourages people to water thoroughly twice a week, wetting the soil 4 to 6 inches deep \u201cwith several days between watering\u201d to develop \u201cdeep, solid roots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turf replacement<\/div>\n

The city\u2019s Turf Replacement Program<\/a>, which started two years ago, is back and welcomes applications until Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program incentivizes property owners to replace non-functional turf and landscaping plants with qualifying alternatives,\u201d like native plants, for instance, the news release reads.<\/p>\n

During summer, a significant amount of water goes to keeping lawns and landscapes green. In fact, water use more than doubles from winter to summer in Cortez.<\/p>\n

The Turf Replacement Program aims to curb this high water use by encouraging alternatives like xeriscapes or a \u201cGarden In A Box,\u201d which is \u201ca kit created to replace sections of nonfunctional lawns,\u201d the program\u2019s website reads.<\/p>\n

Backflow prevention<\/div>\n

When installing sprinkler, boiler or fire suppression systems, residents \u201care required to obtain a permit and install a testable backflow prevention system to protect \u2026 our domestic drinking water,\u201d the news release said.<\/p>\n

Such systems are installed at cross-connections, which are \u201cany point in a water distribution system where chemical, biological or radiological contaminates may come into contact with potable water,\u201d Cortez city\u2019s website reads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Grant opportunities<\/div>\n

The Business Beautification and Cortez Graffiti Cleanup Grants are both accepting applications. For more information on those, reach out to Rachael Marchbanks at rmarchbanks@cortezco.gov<\/a> or Helen West at hwest@cortezco.gov<\/a>, or visit the Business Incentives section<\/a> on Cortez\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Third Thursdays<\/div>\n

Third Thursdays will be back at Montezuma Park in Cortez from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 19, July 17, Aug. 21 and Sept. 18. As always, there will be vendors, live music, dancing, food and drink at the event sponsored by First National Bank in Cortez.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s vendor space still available; if you\u2019re interested, reserve your space online<\/a> on the city website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

restrictions are set for the season, and recurring rules are reminded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77678,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22361\/revisions\/77678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22361"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}