Posted by Snow in 
Over Watering
Summer’s biggest sustainability crime is the practice of over watering plants and flowers due to incorrectly installed or adjusted sprinkler systems. Poor sprinkler planning, deteriorated sprinkler equipment condition, faulty irrigation lines, and eroded areas make water waste occur every time your sprinklers go off.
Think you that these little bits of stray clean water wastage won’t cost the planet? Think again.
Community utility services centers and waste water treatment plants process millions of gallons a day that might have otherwise been properly channeled toward green use. Chemical plants that can’t handle the load have to notify community managers to borrow water from other areas or “polish” water with better quality water mixed in. This is done at a cost.
Why are you still getting away with it? Don’t expect friends and neighbors to let you know. They may have simply gotten used to the rivers of water traveling out to the street or down the curb channel. You may be the person on the block that over waters but nobody has ever mentioned it. Neighbors look the other way. Nobody wants to be the “bad guy” and take you to task.
The above image captures just what I’m talking about. The sidewalk is getting more water than the grass earth, and that’s only one of four sprinkler settings to go off. Multiply water runoff by 4. That’s at least twenty gallons. Imagine running a bath every day and simply letting the water run out of the tub. For every member of your family.
Careless lawn maintenance can allow up to 50% water runoff that doesn’t even reach your lawn. It collects on sidewalk runoff channels and curbline sewer channels that never touch a botanical cell. Over watering means grass and earth simply don’t use the moisture. Time sprinklers to reflect needed watering requirements, not habitual watering schedules or habits.
Adjust watering timers and settings for weather changes. A lawn needs less water at a time when the daytime high is 55 degrees versus 95 degrees. Take a look at how much water is hitting the pavement and not the soil. Be alert to rainy days. Patch water areas that are underserved by certain sprinkler settings and disconnect under functioning sprinkler heads.
It’s disconcerting how many people are too lazy to turn off their automatic sprinklers after three days of rain, and see excess over watering and stray clean water running into the street unchecked on top of that.
Strategic runoff should not exceed any area significantly enough to form ‘streams’ running down the block. Sprinkler systems may have been installed when other vegetation was present. Eroded or unplanted areas need less sprinkler vectoring. Flat earth does not need watering.
The best time to water grasses and plants is in the morning, because watering at night allows time for bacteria to form and hasten processes in the night. But watering via sprinkler systems can be just as harmful with a net cost of waste water volume brought about by inappropriate water usage in the home.
The reasons may be rust, damage to sprinkler system, and aged or dysfunctional series of sprinklers. A change in garden organization of new plantings, or simply faulty review of water runoff. Does a huge water channel erupt in the street or curb when your sprinklers go off?
There is another effect to such water waste that goes unseen. You may be encouraging others not to conserve as well. They may think of ways to conserve water, but when their neighbor pours water into the sewers unconcernedly, why should they care? Green living encourages community sustainability water management in the home.
Funnels of surface water collecting on concrete sidewalks and running off pointlessly into sewers can have a deleterious effect on your water utility and municipal services bill. Multiply that water wastage across diverse channels of water use and you have a better understanding the emerging waste water crisis every government is facing.
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