SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -

"Gold is the New Green" and "Stay Sandy Santa Barbara" are two catchy slogans that have popped up during the record drought.

But two new phrases are drawing the attention of local landscapers: "Bold Innovation" and "Eco-Mat."

The Eco-Mat system is a way to keep your grass green, year round, from the roots up. Think of it as a waterbed of sorts, with holes in it for the roots of your lawn.

The underground watering system is manufactured and sold worldwide by Hunter Industries.

The poly-propelene felt blanket evenly disperses water laterally, not from above, but beneath grass.

"The roots of the sod actually come in and attach to this mat, and they get a lot of the water," said Kim True, owner of True Nature Design in Goleta. "They can go down below it as well to get deeper water."

The installation process is fairly easy and arguably, less time consuming than installing a traditional sprinkler system. But, it is not a one person job.

The Eco-Mat comes in a roll measuring 295 feet long by 38 inches wide. Pre-drilled emiter tubing, spaced every 14 inches, runs through channels in the fleeze. The mat system is installed three inches below sod, with a layer of amended soil in between.

A growing number of local contracters and landscapers say this type of sprinkler system is quickly becoming a "must-have" in a variety of turf settings, including that strip of grass between the street and sidewalk.

See the article here:

Subterranean Sprinklers Not Saturating The Market, Yet