Summer is Peak Irrigation Season

During June and July we experience warmer temperatures and the longest days of the year. Our landscape's watering demand peaks. Therefore, we often have to water more frequently and/or for longer periods of time.

To prevent water waste and assure peak water use efficiency, follow these helpful tips below:

• Water by hand. Hand watering is most efficient.
• Conduct an irrigation system test, and perform a system tune-up. Eliminate leaks and be assured water is applied evenly and only where needed.
• Check your controller programming. Watering too frequently is a common problem leading to a lot of water waste.
• Water only as needed, typically once weekly for shrubs, and two, or possibly three times for lawns.
• Be sure not to over water. Dig down into the soil to see if the soil is already moist before watering.
• Be cautious about automatic watering frequency. Consider using the programmable delay feature to skip some scheduled watering days during cool, wet weather.
• Use the "SMART" features on your new irrigation controller to automatically adjust the watering duration and frequency.
• Activate the rain shut-off feature to prevent irrigation during, and at least 48 hours after a rainfall event.
• In the even of a power outage, make sure the irrigation controller did not re-program to a default mode to water everyday.

MCWD provides region-specific Irrigation Schedules to assist you in managing your irrigation programming throughout the growing season. Adjusting your irrigation schedules based on the monthly water demand of your landscape decreases your water usage while maintaining a healthy landscape.

The minutes of irrigation run time for June and July are calculated to be the maximum irrigation run times needed to meet your landscape's water demand.

Newer "SMART" irrigation controllers will automatically adjust these peak irrigation run times to match actual water demand (typically fewer minutes of irrigation run time). If you have an older irrigation controller, you must change your programmed frequency and run times each month as the weather and plant water needs change.

To keep track of and adjust your irrigation schedules, please utilize our irrigation program templates!

Our conservation staff is available to assist you in creating a custom irrigation schedule for your site or to assist you in programming your controller. Please call us at (831) 384-6131