Watering
Can Be Efficient!
Fine-Tune Your Irrigation System to Save Water and Money
For a healthy, drought- and stress-tolerant lawn and landscape,
use less water. Adopting water-savvy habits also is essential to
maintaining and extending your community’s water supply, especially
during peak use. Water-efficient habits will result in a healthier
lawn and landscape, in addition to conserving water and saving money.
With some simple practices and new technology, existing irrigation
systems can be made more efficient—lowering your water bill,
reducing run off, and eliminating waste.
Reduce demand. Use native plants in your landscape—they
require less care and water than ornamental varieties—and
apply mulch around shrubs and garden plants to reduce evaporation.
Less is more. If you step on your lawn and the
grass springs back, it does not need to be watered. Watering plants
too much and too frequently results in shallow roots, weed growth,
disease, and fungus. Seasons change, so should your system. Familiarize
yourself with the settings
on your irrigation controller and adjust the watering schedule regularly
to conform with seasonal
weather conditions.
Play “zone” defense. Schedule each
individual zone in your irrigation system to account for the type
of sprinkler, sun or shade exposure, and the soil type for the specific
area. The same watering schedule rarely applies to all zones in
the system.
Make it a date. Inspect your irrigation system
monthly. Check for leaks, broken or clogged heads, and other problems,
or engage an irrigation professional to regularly check your system.
Clean micro-irrigation filters as needed.
Get your head adjusted. Correct obstructions in
sprinkler heads that prevent sprinklers from distributing water
evenly. Keep water off pavement and structures.
Check for WaterSense! A certified irrigation professional
can design, install, maintain, or audit your system to ensure optimal
efficiency using the proper amount of water to maintain a healthy
landscape. Ask if your irrigation contractor is a WaterSense
partner, which means he or she has been certified through a
program that focuses on water efficiency.
Get smart. Climate or soil moisture sensor-based
“smart” controllers evaluate weather or soil moisture
conditions, then calculate and automatically adjust the irrigation
schedule to meet the specific needs of your landscape.
Flip to a switch. Rain shutoff switches, required
by law in many states, turn off your system in rainy weather and
help compensate for natural rainfall. This inexpensive device can
be retrofitted to almost any system.
Easy does it. Install low-volume micro-irrigation
for gardens, trees, and shrubs. Micro-irrigation includes drip (also
known as trickle), micro-spray jets, micro-sprinklers, or bubbler
irrigation to irrigate slowly and minimize evaporation, runoff,
and overspray.
Watch the clock. Water when the sun is low or
down, winds are calm, and temperatures are cool—between the
evening and early morning—to reduce evaporation. You can lose
as much as 30 percent of water to evaporation by watering midday.
July is Smart Irrigation Month!
The Irrigation Association® has named July Smart Irrigation
Month to provide tips about smart practices and new technology.
Learn what you can do to operate your system at peak efficiency
throughout the year at <www.smartirrigationmonth.org>.
This document is also available in PDF
(2 pp, 163K, About
PDF). |