The April 2023 Water Matters Road Show
Hey N69,
For those of you who missed the Water Matters Road Show yesterday in our neighborhood, you missed a lot of great info! So, because I'm a nice person, I will recap some of the stuff we learned yesterday, because it will help you to not waste water! Also, Georgetown has installed a new monitoring system to watch for people watering when they shouldn't be--wrong days (NEVER on Monday!), wrong hours (NEVER between 10am and 3pm), and the fines are increasing as well: 1st Violation = $ 60, 2nd Violation = $ 75, 3rd Violation = $100.
Why use a licensed irrigator to check and/or repair your system?
- It's the law! They MUST have their license number (LI XXXX) on their truck AND on their business card, so look for that before going any farther.
- If a licensed irrigator does the job and there's a problem, you can file a complaint with TCEQ; if they're not licensed, you're on your own....
- A licensed irrigator is required to take a week-long class and pass a test to get licensed, then they have to have continuing education every 3 years to maintain their license.
- Licensed irrigators all carry liability insurance and will provided references for you to check out.
- They should be happy to provide a written warranty on their work and materials; if not, look elsewhere for an irrigator.
You should understand what kind of heads are found in your system--they're not all alike! Spray heads (1.4 gal per minute), single-stream rotors (.45 gal per minute), multi-stream rotors (varies depending on adjustment), bubblers (5 gal per minute--best for new trees), driplines (.9 gal per HOUR), etc. They all provide different levels of water, so it's up to you to determine how much you need for each location!
Replacing heads with drip irrigation in flower beds can save a lot of water, and you'll get a rebate back from the City if you provide the receipt from the installer showing how many heads you replaced.
That's it for water matters.
Deb