By Jennifer Nations, Water Resource Coordinator
With forecasts indicating hot, dry weather ahead, it’s a perfect time to highlight Smart Irrigation Month, a public awareness campaign that promotes efficient water use. Here are five simple ways you can help conserve our precious water resources and maybe even save a few dollars in the process.
1. Find Your Controller’s OFF Position
Irrigation is meant to supplement rainfall, not the other way around. When we have abundant rain, there’s no need for regular irrigation. If it rains an inch or more in a week, do your lawn and your bank account a favor by turning your sprinklers off.
2. Get WaterSmart Recommendations
How often should you water? How much rain has fallen in your neighborhood? That vital information is at your fingertips through Brazos Valley WaterSmart, a free online resource that tracks rainfall totals and provides weather-based watering recommendations.
A network of digital rain gauges collects rainfall, temperature, and evapotranspiration data, converting it into fact-based guidance. If you’ve received WaterSmart recommendations, you have likely run your system very little this summer, thanks to plentiful and well-timed rain in May, June, and the first half of July.
3. Install a Rain Sensor
Rain sensors are small, inexpensive devices that collect rainwater. After a certain amount of rain, the sensor interrupts the next cycle on your irrigation controller. They are especially helpful when your system has run once during the week, but it rains later in the week. Rain sensors are required on controllers installed after 2009.
4. Get a Smart Controller
Irrigating with an old clock-based timer wastes water by irrigating when it’s not needed. For example, watering on Wednesday, despite it raining on Monday and Tuesday. As much as half the water we use outdoors is wasted due to inefficient irrigation systems.
If your controller doesn’t accept a rain sensor, or run a test cycle, or loses programming after a power outage, it might be time to replace it. When you do, look for the WaterSense label. WaterSense irrigation controllers are independently verified to meet specific criteria for efficiency and performance, including the ability to adjust watering based on weather patterns.
College Station water customers are also eligible for a 50% rebate on the purchase of WaterSense-labeled controllers and other efficient irrigation products.
5. Request a Free Checkup
Some irrigation systems use 4,000 gallons or more per cycle, so adding a few extra cycles or watering days can quickly wreck your water bill. College Station Water Services offers free landscape irrigation check-ups to help customers learn how to water their landscapes efficiently. Those who benefit most have an in-ground irrigation system and use more than 20,000 gallons per month for consecutive months or more than 25,000 gallons in a single month on an average-sized residential lot.
During an irrigation checkup, a Water Services representative will demonstrate how to read your meter, document your system settings, identify efficiency issues, and recommend a watering schedule with estimated savings. We’ve conducted more than 1,100 checkups to help our customers manage water bills as we manage our peak seasonal water demand.
If you have questions, contact me at 979-764-6223 or jnations@cstx.gov.
If you liked this post, share it with the buttons below!
