How Much Water Does your Irrigation System Use?

Princeton Fall Sweep Starts November 1st!

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Know When to Water and When to Wait

Grass Clippings and Leaf Litter are Stormwater Pollutants and Safety Hazards

How Much Water Does your Irrigation System Use?

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Know When to Water and When to Wait

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Try these calculations for your yard!

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Water Efficient Irrigation

Water is the most important resource to sustain life and as the Earth’s population grows, the need for water grows. Water is being used and wasted faster than it can be replenished.

Irrigation Efficiency

Lawn irrigation can be 40-60% of your water bill
Watering less than two times a week is usually sufficient
Brown grass does not mean dead grass
Frequent watering promotes shallow roots instead of deep long lasting roots

For more information on how much you should water your lawn based on the weather visit: watermyyard.org

Landscape

Plant native and drought resistant plants that require less watering
Taller grass holds water more efficiently, don’t cut more than one third of the grasses length at one time
Buy or make a rain bucket to water your plants

Visit: www.txsmartscape.com for more information on native plants

Water & Irrigation Regulations

PDF Version

April 1 – October 31

Water no more than twice per week
Less than twice per week is usually adequate
Watering is prohibited from 10AM to 6PM
Additional Landscape watering may be provided by hand-held hose with a shutoff nozzle, dedicated irrigation drip zones, and/or soaker hose provided no runoff occurs.

November 1 – March 31

Limit landscape watering to one day per week
Every 15-20 days is usually adequate

Prohibitions

Irrigation systems that water impervious surfaces (sidewalks, roads)
Outdoor watering during precipitation or freeze events
Poorly maintained sprinkler systems that are actively wasting water
Excess water runoff or other obvious waste
Over seeding, sodding, sprinkling, broadcasting or plugging with cool season grasses or watering cool season grasses, except for golf courses and athletic fields.
Use of potable water to fill or refill residential, amenity, and any other natural manmade ponds

Requirements

Non-commercial car washing must be done when using a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle.
New irrigation systems require freeze sensors and/or ET or Smart Controllers, which must be maintained
Irrigation systems must be inspected at the same time as initial backflow preventer inspection
New irrigation systems must be in compliance with state design and installation regulations.

Cycle and Soak Method

Print out this Water Usage Chart or use the calculations below.

First, Determine what kind of sprinkler head yo have:

Spray Head – Up to 3 gallons per minute (per head)
Rotor Head – Up to 9 gallons per minute (per head)

Then, Plug in the numbers below:

# of sprinkler heads ______ x # of gallons per minute (see above) ______x # of minutes scheduled per use ____ = # of gallons emitted per use

Do you have drip irrigation? it uses up to 1.5 gallons per minute in each 10×10 area. Plug in the numbers below if you have drip irrigation:

# of sq. ft. of irrigated lawn____ = # of gallons emitted per use x # of minutes scheduled per use ____ = # of gallons emitted per use.

Any variance above your normal household consumption could indicate any of the following:

Incorrect irrigation timer settings
A power surge could reset a timer to factory defaults, causing it to run more frequently than expected.
Check weekly and daily timers
Check for multiple timer programs (A, B, and C)
Broken or damaged sprinkler heads
Leaky or running toilet. (Public works has free tablets to help you check for toilet leaks)

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Know when to water and when to wait with watermyyard.org A healthy yard needs less water than you may think. The Water My Yard program has been designed as a tool to assist you in determining an adequate amount of supplemental water that is needed to maintain a healthy lawn. It only takes a few […]

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Water IQ

Water My Yard

Texas Water Smart

/by Nakia Patton

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