Save money on your water bills without buying a new irrigation system

With summer’s heat closing in fast, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, water becomes more scarce—and more expensive. It’s challenging enough to pay your bills every month, so you don’t want to invest more money on a new irrigation system. How in the world can you conserve water without a new system, though? Here are some ideas that may help you conserve water and save money.

Routine Maintenance May Uncover Some Problems

Because drip irrigation emitters and sprinkler heads use tiny holes to deliver the water to your plants, it doesn’t take much to get some of those holes clogged. Dirt, dust, grass—all can cause your system to back up. If the pressure builds up to a certain point, your system may spring a leak. To avoid that happening, simply clean off the holes from time to time. Check your system often for any indication of clogs.

If you see water spurting up from a spot in your system, of course, that’s an obvious indication that you have a clog or a leak. There are, though, other signs to alert you to look for clogs or breaks in your system. If your lawn is green near the sprinkler head, but has a brown ring or spots farther away from the sprinkler, you may need to replace your sprinkler head.

If your emitter is clogged, you will probably see some wilted plants in certain areas of your lawn or garden. Those wilted areas indicate where the clog is located. If your plants near the end of the drip line are dying, you may have an actual leak or a broken pipe. Locate the broken section and replace it.

Make Your System More Efficient

In addition to regular maintenance, you need to configure your irrigation system  to make it work more efficiently. Try overlapping your sprinklers’ spray zones. That way, even the plants at the end of each sprinkler’s spray zone will get adequate water. You’ll find that it takes less time and less water when each of the sprinklers gets help from the others. If overlapping the spray zones isn’t enough, you may need to replace some of the sprinkler heads to more efficient ones.

Drip irrigation systems should be routinely inspected by lawn care professionals. These systems need to be rearranged as your plants grow and your landscape design changes. If your emitters are too large or too small for the types of plants you have growing in a given area, you need to install emitters that are properly sized for the plants in that area of your garden.