How Efficient are Your Irrigation Practices?
A human would need 16,000 gallons of water for a lifetime. Your landscape needs 625 gallons of water for every 1000 square feet. How are you doing on your irrigation efficiency?
Step 1
Calculate how many square feet of landscape you need to irrigate.
- the property appraiser website is a handy way to know the size of your lot and the size of the non-irrigated areas (house, driveway, pool etc.)
You might have a 5000 square feet lot but only 2500 square feet are irrigated.
- It takes about 625 gallons per irrigation cycle to water 1000 sq. ft. So, if you have 2500sq. feet. of irrigated landscape, it will require about 1,600 gallons per irrigation cycle or if watering once a week about 6,300 gallons.
Read ‘ How much water am I using to irrigate my yard?’
Step 2
Check your water bill and calculate your irrigable area to get a baseline.
- Remember, there is other water use indoors, typically you can assume about 2,000gallons of indoor water use per person each month.
You might have other water needs, such as filling a pool, which, if done by a hose, is about 400 gallons per hour the hose is running.
Step 3
If you discover your water use is well above the predicted need, do a wet check of your system and check for issues, also check your timeclock for multiple start times, and multiple programs on “B, C, or D”.
- Most only program in A and only one start time.
Learn more about Setting Your Irrigation Controller – Gardening Solutions here.
Conclusion
By being mindful of how we use water in our gardens and on our lawns, we can help conserve this precious resource while keeping our plants happy and healthy.
For more information about water use and conservation in Florida, see Water Resources.
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