August 9, 2004 Weekly Water Saving Tip

First off, let’s look at the sprinklers to determine the coverage. Coverage is evaluated by looking at the amount of overthrow, the application rate and the efficiency of the system. When evaluating your system, watch for any runoff. Runoff water is lost to the landscape and comes with a higher cost in maintenance, through damage to our sidewalks, driveways, fences and roads. If you discover any problems, plan to make changes this fall or early spring. The state’s website has a simplified water check to evaluate efficiency of your system. It will tell you how long you need to run your system each irrigation and how often you should run it. The web address is: www.conservewater.utah.gov.

The second component of an irrigation system is the controller. Make sure it is doing for you what you have set it to do. For maximum water conservation, we recommend turning the system on manually and having the controller turn it off.

We haven’t reached that time when we can change our irrigation schedule. Temperatures are still warm. So, irrigation this week is still every three to four days. As fall approaches and the temperatures cool, we will again begin a program to prepare our landscape for the conservation of water next summer. Fall season is when we can truly develop the plants in our landscape to have the ideal plant growth and health that is required to withstand the temperatures of the summer.

The Weekly Water Saving is provided to Washington County Water Conservancy District by Dr. Frank Williams of the BYU Horticulture Department. For more information, call Julie Breckenridge at 673-3617.