When it comes to a home’s irrigation system, a little maintenance goes a long way. Cracks in pipes can lead to costly leaks, and broken sprinkler heads can waste water and money.

Irrigation Water Use Facts

• Residential outdoor water use across the United States accounts for nearly 9 billion gallons of water each day, mainly for landscape irrigation.
• Experts estimate that as much as half of the water we use outdoors is being wasted due to evaporation, wind, or runoff caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems.
• Homes with clock-timer-controlled irrigation systems use about 50% more water outdoors than homes without irrigation systems. Your system can waste even more if it’s programmed incorrectly, a sprinkler head is pointed in the wrong direction, or you have a leak.
• A clock-timer-controlled irrigation system that isn’t properly programmed or maintained can waste as much as 25,000 gallons of water annually.
• A broken or missing sprinkler head could waste as much as 25,000 gallons of water and $280 over a six-month irrigation season.

Before you ramp up watering this season, spruce up your irrigation system by remembering four simple steps: inspect, connect, direct and select.

Learn more about conserving water in times of drought here, and get help maintaining a water-smart yard by visiting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense website at www.epa.gov/watersense/outdoors.

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