SAVE WATER IN 2017

Did you know that Condo Associations waste millions of gallons of water because their irrigation systems are inefficient?

Fair Lawn NJ, December 12, 2016 - Have you ever taken a stroll through your community and noticed that the lawn sprinklers have watered the roads more than the grass? Water conservation is a hot topic in New Jersey Home Owner Associations right now, and it's becoming more urgent for HOA's to find ways to save water in their communities.

50% or more of the water we use daily is used on lawns and landscaping. We've all seen the early morning cycle where the runoff makes the concrete sidewalks, driveways and roads look wetter than the grass, or found that pesky sprinkler head out of adjustment watering site structures or the road, while it was intended to water the lawn or landscape.

5 EASY WAYS TO CONSERVE WATER IN YOUR HOA

1. Water Less Often
Irrigation Technology is available that monitors your local weather conditions. This technology is not cheap, but they will save you millions of gallons of wasted water per season. SMART Irrigation controllers connect to local weather stations and automatically adjust your required watering based on predictive and actual weather conditions in your local area. This technology is readily available in your market.

You can also have your irrigation contractors inspect and change watering requirement manually, but in most cases you will be charged service fees hourly to do so, either way these practices help conserve water and reduce your waste of irrigation water in your community.

2. Treat Shrub Beds differently than lawn
Typically irrigation is set up for lawn zones and shrub zones, in some cases lawn zones are doing double duty and are adjusted to try and water shrub beds, this practice reduces the efficiency of the lawn zones and in all cases, these zones must run for longer periods of time to accomplish double duty watering. If possible install separate zones for shrub bed watering, if the shrub beds are established plant material, install drip zones or micro spray zones...these two types of zones run gallons per hour rather that the typically spray head which runs gallons per minute

3. Seasonal Shrub Bed Mulching
Seasonal shrub bed mulching helps to retain moisture at the root zone of the shrubs and trees. By mulching properly each season, you will reduce the needed amount of water for these shrub beds throughout your community.

4. Check for leaks and broken heads
Routine weekly or monthly inspections are extremely important to the efficiency of your irrigation system. Make certain that each and every zone is inspected on a weekly or monthly basis. Inspection means checking operation of each zone and walking out each head to make certain that they are operating properly...This is called a "wet check". Wet checks are just that, making certain that all areas are being properly watered. It's important to make sure that your contractor is checking for non rotating rotors and heads that have become blocked by the growth of plant material....These two types of operational failures are your biggest waste of irrigation water.

5. Adjust and re-nozzle your sprinkler heads
Your landscape and grounds are evolving daily, while your irrigation system is static. It is very important that your contractor makes the necessary adjustments to heads, proposed head relocation's and re nozzle of heads to match the current landscape. Irrigation systems that were installed 5, 10 or 20 years ago do not automatically meet the current watering requirement, they need to be up graded to meet the evolving landscape that surrounds your system

LONG TERM IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS

1. Complete Irrigation System Audit
Irrigation Audits of HOA Irrigation Systems are the playbooks for your future investments and help to budget for long term savings. Typical irrigation audits for HOA Irrigation Systems uncover all your system inefficiencies, log all system assets (Clock locations, Water Source type, Valve Locations, Head Locations, Total Head Counts, Nozzle types, Coverage Gaps and the system electrical components. Irrigation Audits range in price depending on the size and complexity of your irrigation system.

2. Upgrading to SMART Irrigation Controller
SMART Irrigation controllers are a long term investment, but will save you millions of gallons of water per season, save you thousands in service call fees per season and ultimately reduce your total irrigation operating budget each year...Most SMART controller installation save up to 40% on city water bills and 10% on service related fees each season.

CHOOSE HIGH QUALITY WATER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

HOA irrigation water management is not just turning on and winterizing an irrigation system, it is the development of a proper service plan that includes system monitoring with written reporting, skilled technicians that understand water management and large scale irrigation system experience.

IRRIGATION CONTRACTS

In most cases in the HOA market the irrigation system contract is rolled into the landscape contract. This at one point in time was thought to be a good idea, figuring, well if they are maintaining our grounds why not just have them maintain the irrigation system. In 80% of cases, this contract set up does not work. It's not that they are not skilled, It becomes a matter of they have too much on their plate at your community. Independent irrigation professionals manage irrigation systems and the water that they use on a daily basis. You're not saving money by lumping these contracts together, your creating a way for you're irrigation system to become inefficient over time.

START SAVING IRRIGATION WATER TODAY!

For more information on how you can start saving irrigation water at your HOA community, give us a call to discuss your current situation and we will see how we can assist you. Thank you for reading!

About TANZ, Inc.
TANZ, Inc. has a corporate office location in River Edge, NJ serving, NJ, NY and CT and a Branch Location in Matthews NC, serving the greater Charlotte area as well as York and Lancaster County South Carolina. TANZ, Inc. is a licensed NJ, NY and NC irrigation Contractor. TANZ, Inc has installed over 25,000 residential systems and more than 500 commercial irrigation systems since 1982.

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