Since July is Smart Irrigation Month, let’s explore one of the most effective means of conserving water in a landscape: drip irrigation.
A drip system may not be the first thing most people envision when they think of landscape irrigation. But these highly efficient systems not only conserve water, they also can irrigate slopes and oddly shaped areas with precision.
Drip Irrigation Basics
Drought in Ohio
Since 2000, the longest duration of drought in Ohio lasted 44 weeks beginning on July 23, 2002, and ending on May 20, 2003. Drought conditions ranged from “moderate” to “exceptional” during this period.
On the other hand, the most intense period of drought occurred during the week of September 4, 2007, when “extreme” drought affected more than 11 percent of the state’s land.
Drip irrigation slowly and steadily delivers gallons of water per hour, as opposed to gallons of water per minute like sprinkler systems. And because the water is directed to the plants’ roots, runoff and evaporation are minimized. So less water is required.
A drip irrigation system consists of the following basic components:
Water valve
Backflow preventer
Pressure regulator
Filter
Tubing adapter
Dripline (PVC or polyethylene tubing)
Emitters
Electronic controller
Once the basic system is installed, any number of lateral lines can then be attached through various headers. Each line is fitted with water-dispersing emitters, and then can either be buried or covered with mulch.
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When it comes to the dripline, contractors have two options: Insert the emitters anywhere you wish along the line, or purchase lines with pre-inserted emitters at regular intervals.
However, choosing the correct emitter is important. Output rates for emitters vary from a half gallon to two gallons per hour. Emitters with different output rates may be installed on a single dripline. This comes in handy if you need to irrigate plants with distinct watering needs that are located close together.
Adjustable emitters are also available. These allow you to regulate the water flow rate, from a steady drip to a slow stream.
Drip System Applications
Drip systems are primarily used to water flower beds, gardens and particularly small or unique landscape areas. They’re perfect for xeriscape-type gardening which requires limited irrigation.
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But they can also be used to provide supplemental irrigation. For instance, drip irrigation can be added to bedding areas that are already incorporated into sprinkler zones.
In addition, drip systems can be used to irrigate larger areas, such as both new and already-established lawns. For a new lawn, simply install the dripline before sodding or planting grass seed. With an established lawn, the drip line is trenched into the turf.
Maintenance
Typically, drip systems are easier to maintain than sprinkler systems, because the emitters and dripline aren’t deeply buried. The trick is in determining when a repair is needed. Whereas a broken sprinkler head is easily identified, with a drip system, you must look for browning or wilting vegetation.
Which is why you’ll want to incorporate a flow meter in the system. This sensor will notify the controller of any flow irregularities. An alert is then sent to the home owner’s smartphone. Wireless flow meters are both affordable and easy to install.
Selling Points
Drip irrigation systems offer numerous benefits your customers should know about:
Better plant health. Water penetrates slowly and deeply into the soil, placing moisture exactly where it’s needed – at the roots. Plants grow quickly when they are watered uniformly without stress created by lack of water.
Less waste. A good drip irrigation directs 90 percent of the water into the soil, with very little lost to evaporation.
Environmental benefits. Because drip irrigations are so effective, there is less chance of erosion, with very little runoff ending up in area streams and rivers.
Reduced risk of disease. Drip irrigation keeps the foliage dry, thus reducing the incidence of powdery mildew and other diseases that occur in damp conditions.
Weed control. Drip irrigation systems place water directly around the plant. As a result, weed seeds are water starved and germination is limited.
Like sprinkler systems, drip irrigation requires winterization. Be careful, however, that you don’t use too much air pressure when blowing out the lines. (You don’t want the emitters to pop off.) It’s also a good idea to store the backflow preventer and irrigation controller indoors for the winter.
For spring start-ups, be sure to inspect all components for cracks and splits that can occur in very cold weather.
Expanding Market
If climate experts are correct, drier days are ahead for most of the country. Which is one reason drip irrigation has become increasingly popular over the last decade.
At times of severe water restrictions, homeowners with drip systems are often allowed to irrigate several more days per week because of the greater efficiency of these systems. (In fact, these customers may be exempt from watering restrictions altogether.)
And although properly installed drip systems are typically more expensive that sprinkler systems, that initial expense is offset by the cost of water savings over time.
Drip irrigation may not represent a total change of direction for landscape irrigation contractors. But it does nevertheless represent an expanding market and is well worth adding to your menu of services.
Market Your Business as a Leader During Smart Irrigation Month
July is Smart Irrigation Month. Are you geared up to market your company as a leader in water-saving practices?
It was 16 years ago that the national Irrigation Association (IA) first utilized the month of July to promote the social, economic and environmental benefits of efficient landscape irrigation. And every year, Smart Irrigation Month has gotten bigger and better.
New Tools
Again this year, the IA has added some new tools to help irrigation contractors market smart irrigation throughout the month of July. Such as:
Encourage sales and marketing staff to participate in dealer and distributor Smart Irrigation Month activities.
Host a live demonstration of water-saving irrigation technologies in the field or at your location.
Feature water-efficient products and services in displays, ads, promotions and product demos with the Smart Irrigation Month logo.
Make smart irrigation the theme of sales calls.
Distribute awards to customers and/or business partners who promote water-efficient practices.
2019 Video Contest Winner
Also included in IA’s July promotion is the smart irrigation video contest. Last year’s contest winner was Florida-based NatureScape Irrigation Service. Take a look:
Residential areas, farms, forests, small towns, big cities …They’re all part of a massive watershed network. Watersheds cross municipal, county, state and even international borders.
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They come in all shapes and sizes, encompassing millions of square miles or just a few acres. And like creeks that drain into rivers, small watersheds are almost always part of a larger watershed.
For instance, Ohio’s 23 major watersheds consist of 254 principal streams and rivers. But they all drain into either Lake Erie or the Ohio River. (See “Ohio’s Two Primary Watersheds,” below.)
Our landscape and all its activities interconnect with streams, lakes and rivers through their watersheds. Naturally varying lake levels, water movement to and from groundwater, and amount of stream flow influences them as well. The health of our waterways is largely determined by these dynamics between the land and the water.
Ohio’s Two Primary Watersheds
In Ohio, rivers north of the Continental Divide flow to Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Rivers south of the Divide flow to the Ohio River and, eventually, the Gulf of Mexico.
Learn more about the Lake Erie watershed:
Learn more about the Ohio River Watershed:
Becoming Watershed Wise
Watersheds must be protected if they are to sustain life. When human activities alter the natural function of the watershed, residents can be adversely affected by frequent flooding and routine periods of drought.
The three leading causes of polluted waterways are:
Sediments
Bacteria (such as E. coli), and
Excess nutrients (such as nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers).
Watershed-wise practices help create a balance and allow nature to work in our favor. When properly employed, residential landscapes can function as healthy mini-watersheds. The Green Gardens Group (G3) provides training and certification for its Watershed Approach to landscaping. This approach includes four key elements:
Build Healthy Soil
Capture Rainwater
Select Native, Climate-Appropriate Plants
Use Highly Efficient Irrigation
Smart irrigation technology (smart controllers, rain and soil-moisture sensors, and pressure regulators) is a key component of this approach and ensures optimal irrigation system performance.
Best Practices
As an irrigation and landscape professional, are you practicing watershed-wise principles, or are you contributing to the problem? Here are a few tips:
Promote smart irrigation controllers and other technology with your customers, to ensure that runoff is reduced or even eliminated.
Utilize matched precipitation rate (MPR) nozzles.
Suggest that your customers create hydrozones (groups of plants with similar water needs) to conserve water.
Offer your customers natural alternatives to nitrogen- or phosphate-based fertilizers? And suggest integrated pest management instead of pesticides.
Make sure that roof runoff is directed onto a grassy area, not a sanitary or storm sewer system.
Suggest porous surfaces for landscaping (such as flagstone, gravel or interlocking pavers), rather than impervious surfaces like concrete.
Consider installing irrigation systems that draw from rainwater or gray water, whenever possible.
Remind your customers that irrigation system management is critical! Systems must be actively and constantly managed in order to be watershed wise.
Take a Virtual Tour of
Ohio Watersheds
The Ohio Watershed Network offers a virtual tour of Ohio’s watersheds, beginning with the smallest streams in the watershed, the Headwaters.
From there, they move through the wider, slower-moving creeks and floodplains of the Middle Reaches. Then to the lakes, ponds and reservoirs, where sediments and many contaminants can collect.
The next stop is the precious Wetlands, with its large variety of plant and animal life. Finally, the last stop on the watershed tour is the Mighty River, where sediments, debris, or contaminants empty into the receiving waters.
We all affect the watershed, one way or another. Whether our individual influence is positive or negative is up to us.
Matched Precipitation Rates Prevent
Runoff and Dry Spots
As an irrigation professional, you know how important water efficiency has become to the industry.
Gone are the days of sprinkler run-off overflowing into the street. With today’s technology — smart controllers, rotary nozzles, soil moisture sensors, etc. — the irrigation industry is using water much more efficiently than ever before.
And one key to that water efficiency is matched precipitation.
The Basics
When designing sprinkler systems, matching precipitation rates can help to avoid wet and dry spots, as well as excessive run times. Which is why irrigation system designers must consider flow rates and arcs of coverage to ensure even precipitation for each coverage area or zone.
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Flow rates are proportional to the degree of arc covered. For example, the flow rate of a quarter-circle (90⁰) sprinkler head is equal to one-quarter that of a full-circle (360⁰) head. Likewise, the flow rate of a half-circle (180⁰) spray is equal to one-half that of a full circle.
Matched precipitation rate can be achieved two ways:
By zoning together sprinklers with the same precipitation rate (Gallons Per Minute x 96.3 ÷ area), or
By selecting the appropriate Matched Precipitation Rate (MPR) nozzles.
When heads without matched precipitation rates are used in the same zone, dry spots often develop. This can lead to the extension of sprinkler run times, as the entire area is watered longer to keep the dry spot alive. That’s why it’s important to always zone together sprinkler heads with the same precipitation rate.
This can be achieved by matching the gallons per minute (GPM) of a standard rotor to its arc and reducing the range accordingly. For example, two GPM at 90⁰ would equal four GPM at 180⁰, or eight GPM if the sprinkler head covers a full circle.
An Illustration
The Hunter Industries website offers the following illustration of three different sprinkler heads with matched precipitation rates:
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For each of these sprinkler heads, one GPM is applied to each quarter circle (assuming the throw radius is the same for each head). As a result, precipitation is matched.
On the other hand, if you were to install nozzles with the same flow rate on all three heads, areas covered by the 90⁰ head would receive four times as much water as the area covered by the full-circle head. So the quarter-circle area would flood long before areas covered by the 360⁰ head received sufficient water.
(For detailed examples of how this works, click here.)
MPR Nozzles
Hunter Industries Photo
Matched Precipitation Rate (MPR) nozzles provide a much simpler way to match precipitation rates within the respective irrigation zones. These nozzles allow sprinklers with various arcs and radii to be mixed on the same circuit. They work well, for example, with beds or turf areas that are irregularly shaped and therefore require varying radii of sprinkler heads within the same zone.
MPR nozzles offer irrigation contractors and technicians greater flexibility when working on the system. Different nozzles can be used for precise watering, while still maintaining matched precipitation rates across the irrigation zone.
Can You Mix and Still Match?
So can different types of sprinklers be used within the same zones? According to Brent Barkley, product manager for Rain Bird in Azusa, Calif., the answer is “Yes, but cautiously.”
“With careful design, and the right products, it is possible to match the precipitation rates of rotors and rotary nozzles, allowing them to be zoned together while irrigating different sections of an irregularly shaped lawn,” said Barkley. An example would be if rotors are being used on a fairly large area of turf in a front lawn, you could probably utilize some rotary nozzles to irrigate a narrow strip of side yard.
What you want to avoid, however, is a hodgepodge (“crazy quilt”) of sprinkler types with no apparent rhyme or reason. A situation like that can result when numerous repairs and alterations are performed by various contractors over the years.
Particularly on older systems, you may see the crazy quilt layout, with a combination of spray heads and rotors delivering water at much different precipitation rates. In such a situation, replacing the spray heads with rotary nozzles can help come very close to achieving matched precipitation rates without replacing the whole system.
How Will the Coronavirus Affect the Landscape Irrigation Industry?
In an effort to stem the coronavirus pandemic, the Ohio Department of Health has issued a Stay at Home Order for all non-essential businesses across the state. Landscape irrigation contractors are wondering where they fit in.
Of course, agricultural irrigation is considered an essential function because of its role in necessary food production. But is landscape irrigation considered “essential” or “non-essential”?
Bad Timing
While there’s never a good time for a pandemic, early spring is particularly problematic for green industries. This six-to-eight-week period is peak season. For irrigation contractors, it’s time for spring tune-ups, inspections and backflow testing.
In an open letter to legislators and other officials, available on the national Irrigation Association website, the IA states:
“We are entering the spring months when many irrigation systems will be turned on by the homeowner/property manager. It is imperative that these systems are professionally inspected (in accordance with state and local codes and regulations), ensuring there are no leaks and the backflow prevention device is operating properly.”
The association further argues that landscape irrigation should be included in essential services because:
“We need to ensure water is available for all uses during this health emergency. Ensuring irrigation systems are doing their job and running properly is an essential component in protecting our nation’s water supply.”
There are two separate categories where landscape irrigation professionals could be considered part of the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce, according to Homeland Security’s CISA List:
Water and Wastewater. “Workers repairing water and wastewater conveyances and performing required sampling or monitoring.” (e.g., backflow testing), and
Public Works. “Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences.”
The argument could also be made that, since irrigation professionals perform virtually all of their work outdoors, close human contact can easily be avoided.
Economic Outlook for Irrigation
Construction
Guidelines
As of March 31, here are the pandemic guidelines for the construction industry for Ohio and neighboring states.
(Please note: Guidelines continue to change. Check with your local authorities.)
Ohio: Construction on critical infrastructure continuing
According to chief economist Dr. Charlie Hall, before this pandemic, the green industry was poised to have a very good spring. Since the outbreak, there have been supply chain disruptions, massive unemployment, quarantines, closures and negative demand shocks.
The question now is: “Will consumers continue to spend their money in the lawn and garden area?” Currently, it’s impossible to tell.
Dr. Hall outlined four possible outcomes for the current economic recession:
The medical and economic crisis ends in three months and businesses gradually return to some sense of normalcy.
The pandemic is seasonal – decreasing with warm weather and returning in the fall – in which case the economic downturn would last 12 months.
The pandemic / economic downturn persists until “herd immunity” is reached, in about two years.
The pandemic / economic downturn persists until a vaccine or treatment is developed, in about 12-18 months.
What to Expect
Dr. Hall also suggested that green business owners can expect “clusters” of illness among their team members. So it’s important to identify susceptible critical functions, as well as supply chain risks.
Some irrigation contractors may be eligible for federal loans or other benefits. In order to receive them, you’ll have to measure and document the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on your business. Hall also said that this is not the time to be making any big business decisions. Defer those until the crisis has passed.
Growth Opportunities?
The good news is…being ordered to stay at home, people will certainly be spending more time in their yards and gardens. Which means they’ll want to keep their landscapes green and healthy.
Resourceful business owners will use this opportunity to spread the word about the many health benefits of plants. The Texas A & M Extension offers an extensive list of publications and websites which tout the benefits of plants on human health and well-being.
For more information about the effect of the coronavirus on the green industry, check out AmericanHort’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
