Irregular Shapes - Landscapes are often designed with many irregular shapes that do not match the options available for sprinkler head patterns.  Although those shapes can be quite attractive, they result in inefficient use of water through over-spray onto fences, rocks, etc. 

Soil Conditions - Poor top soil, deficient in organic material or severely compacted causes many lawn problems including a shorter lifetime for your lawn.  Often these lawns look good at first year but the roots do not develop well and there is poor percolation and drainage.  Soil amendments are available as well as aeration, and thatching.  Sometimes it is best to start over with good topsoil.

Shade or Full Sun - How much water your plants need is greatly affected by how warm the air is around them.  Areas in full sun will need more water than otherwise calculated --- areas with significant shade will need less.   If either of these conditions exist, adjust your watering volumes as appropriate.

Mowing Frequency and Height of Lawn - A shorter lawn will need more water than one with taller grass since the taller grass helps shade the roots and keep the moisture in.

Back Flow Preventers - A back flow preventer is essential to protect your inside water for cooking and washing from contamination with outside water in the event of a sudden change in water pressure. 

Old or Broken Irrigation Systems  -  Problems with older systems include:

·       Broken heads can result in geysers – high volume of water lost quickly – runoff, drop in pressure 

·       Mismatched heads – rotors, pop-ups, drip on the same line

·       Wrong heads, for example, needs to be a quarter circle but it’s a half circle

·       Misaligned – not watering what it should be watering – usually creates fugitive water

·       Too much pressure creates significant misting; Too little pressure results in some areas not getting enough water (brown spots).·       Spacing – too close together or too far apart or leaky heads – reduce performance

New Technologies

Sprinkler Heads - Traditional sprinkler heads deliver water fast (1.5”/hr).  Two traditional problems:  (1) The ground can only absorb water at the rate of .3” - .5”/hr.  (2) Misting due to fine spray.  Newer heads pop-up, but have multi-stream rotors rather than thin spray and they provide slow watering (.4”/hr.) to match the absorption rate of your lawns soil.   These heads are pressure matched to deliver water with greater uniformity than traditional heads (efficiency of about 80% vs. 70%).  The WUA offers rebates for these new multi-stream heads.

Controllers (timers) – New generation has many more options, easier to program and can add rain sensors.