You don’t need to sacrifice a healthy yard to use less water, writes Tualatin Valley Water District Conservation Technician Steve Carper. (Wikimedia Commons)

Every September and October, my phone starts ringing with the same concern: “There’s no way we used that much water!”

I hear it from homeowners all the time — and most of the time, the issue isn’t a broken water meter or a leak. It’s their irrigation controller. Or more specifically, it’s that their irrigation controller has been incorrectly programmed.

As we enter a new summer watering season, now is the best time to take action and take control of your water bill.

Household water use can easily double or even triple in the summer — mainly due to outdoor watering. If you don’t pay attention, you might find yourself with an expensive late summer or fall water bill. Sticker shock on your water bill can be painful, especially if you’re on a fixed or low income. But that doesn’t mean you have to let your yard dry out. Most of the time, adjusting your irrigation system and reviewing your watering schedule can make a big difference.

I’m the conservation technician for Tualatin Valley Water District. My role is to help customers use water more efficiently. But my roots are in landscaping. My career in the landscaping industry began in middle school when I started mowing my neighbors’ lawns to buy a pair of Vans that my dad refused to pay for. That experience eventually grew into my own licensed landscape maintenance and contracting businesses. I also served two terms on Oregon’s Landscape Contractors Board which focuses on advancing contractor competency and consumer protection.

Much like landscapers, home gardeners are water managers and should understand best practices for water efficiency. This allows folks to get the look they want while being responsible stewards of our resources. Ultimately, I believe we can have beautiful, healthy landscapes and use our water responsibly.

Here are my top five tips for folks with automatic sprinklers before peak watering season:

1. Read the irrigation controller’s owner’s manual or, at minimum, review the quick-start guide. Even seasoned gardeners misunderstand settings and incorrectly program their controllers. If you don’t have the manual, you can usually find it online.
2. Review the settings on your irrigation controller. The most common problems I see are systems that are programmed to run every day, have more start times than needed or have overlapping run times. Setting your system to water two to three times a week, rather than every day, is typically enough.
3. Turn on each zone and walk through your system to make sure each sprinkler is working properly. Look for clogged nozzles, broken or leaky sprinkler bodies and nozzles that are watering where they shouldn’t be. Look and listen for water running off or puddling in the soil. Fix leaks right away or shut off damaged zones until repairs can be made.
4. Use technology to help you water more efficiently.  Install a WaterSense-labeled Weather-Based Irrigation, or “smart” controller. It will eliminate the math and hassle of scheduling by using Wi-Fi and weather data to make daily schedule adjustments automatically. Another option is to sign up for the Weekly Watering Number at regionalH2O.org to make weekly adjustments based on real weather data from your ZIP code.
5. Take advantage of rebates for your upgrades. Your water provider may offer incentives for smart controllers, high-efficiency nozzles, toilets and more. Learn more at regionalH2O.org/rebates.

You don’t need to sacrifice a healthy yard to use less water. With efficient watering and smart upgrades, we can keep our landscape looking beautiful while keeping your water bill manageable.

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Steve Carper is a landscaping expert and the Conservation Technician for Tualatin Valley Water District, a member of the Regional Water Providers Consortium.