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Auditing irrigation systems <br />By Sam Bauer, Extension Turfgrass Educator sibauerumn.edu <br />Auditing your irrigation system is an important practice for maximizing water use <br />efficiency in the home landscape. Audits entail checking for irrigation uniformity and <br />converting minutes of irrigation to inches of water applied. A basic irrigation audit <br />should be performed every spring as systems are charged up for the growing <br />season. Below is a step -by -guide to auditing <br />home lawn irrigation systems. <br />Step 1: System inspection <br />Run each irrigation zone. Look for broken <br />sprinklers, low water pressure and arcs or <br />angles of water spray that are distributing water <br />where it is not needed (i.e. on streets). <br />Replace sprinklers, correct water pressure <br />accordingly, and make adjustments to the <br />water distribution so your system is supplying <br />water only where it is needed. <br />Step 2: Performance testing <br />Performance testing involves placing catch cans on the lawn in an evenly spaced <br />grid pattern throughout an individual irrigation zone. Can should be placed 5 to 8 <br />feet apart for small area spray -sprinklers and 10 to 20 feet apart for large area <br />rotor -type sprinklers. A minimum of 20 cans should be used for each irrigation <br />zone- more cans allow for greater accuracy. Tuna or coffee cans work well for <br />this, or you can purchase specialized cans for <br />conducting audits. <br />After the catch cans are placed throughout an <br />irrigation zone, run the zone for a set amount of <br />time (30-60 minutes). A longer run-time <br />provides more accurate results. Next, measure <br />and record the depth in inches of water in each <br />can. Repeat this procedure for each individual <br />zone of your irrigation system. <br />REPLACE BROKEN AND LEAKY SPRINKLERS <br />PLACE CATCH CANS ON A GRID PATTERN <br />