WaterSavers

Restrict a Little - Save a Lot

During all the testing for my Water Management Program, I realized that run-off was the biggest source of water waste. It also occurred to me that every sprinkler on the market caused too much runoff. The problem with sprinklers in general, I thought, was that the nozzles had too much water running through them, more water than the plants could possibly use; thus causing the excess water to runoff into the streets. Also, at such high pressures, the water coming out of the nozzles produced a "fog-like" effect. This meant that a percentage of the water coming out of the nozzles was evaporated into the air and the wind kept the water vapor from hitting its targeted area. More wasted water!

I concluded that if the amount water that flowed from the sprinklers could be restricted, then fogging and actual runoff off time would also be reduced. There had to be a way to do that without affecting the actual water coverage that the plants needed. It also had to be done at a low cost to encourage its use.

I invented a unique way to use ordinary plastic washers (shower/water restrictors) so that they allowed irrigation sprinklers to use less water. Homeowners were accustomed to using washers inside the home, so why not use them outside as well? I bought some washers that were designed to fit into shower nozzles, and installed them into the bottom of shrub adapters and began testing. I determined the diameter of the hole sizes that worked most effectively and how much water came out of them and at what rates it flowed. I modified the diameter of the hole sizes of two plastic washers and installed them onto the bottom of a shrub adapter; thus restricting the amount of water that flowed from the sprinkler.

Would the restricter allow enough water to come out? Absolutely. Would it be necessary to water for a longer period of time? No. The amount of water we needed to restrict was small enough to begin with that it had little to no affect on the watering time but it did make a difference in reducing the time of run-off. I was satisfied that runoff was the only thing that we were restricting.

We named these specially modified devices, WaterSavers. We made them in two different sizes and color coded them. The green ones were designed for one-quarter circle, one-third circle, and one-half circle diameter nozzles; and the black ones were designed for three-quarter circle, and full circle diameter nozzles. Each WaterSaver came with a filter that fit into the riser to protect it from getting clogged with debris. This also helped to cut down on their maintenance.

Where could we use these restriction devices, these WaterSavers, be used to their fullest capacity? After some more testing I realized that these washers just weren't going to fit into regular lawn pop-ups. But they DID fit into the bottom of any common shrub adapter as long as it fit onto a half inch riser.

Other Benefits That Came Along
With Using WaterSavers

The WaterSavers stabilized the irrigation system as a whole. This simply means that the same amount of water was pushed through each nozzle so that the water was evenly distributed. Usually, with an irrigation system, more water comes out of the first several nozzles and less comes out of the ones at the end of the system. The WaterSavers forced the same amount of water to come out of each nozzle.

The WaterSavers brought fogging down to a minimum. This meant we no longer had to lose that percentage of water through evaporation.

The WaterSavers also saved water in the pipe because water was being evenly distributed. This water savings was substantial enough so that it enabled us to add more risers to the irrigation system. We could wire two valves together so that they worked together rather than separately. Now we could water a larger area in less time. The decreased pressure in the system also allowed us to use less water.

Nozzles can get destroyed when gardeners are careless with hedgers and weed eaters. Water running through the adapter still saves water. Breakage in the system through damage to the nozzle usually happens 25% of the time. The water running through the WaterSaver without the nozzle would shoot in the air 20 feet. This visibility makes the break more likely to be fixed before damage is done to the yard.

We continued to look for ways to reduce water runoff. Through investigation I found out that two irrigation companies, Toro and Rainbird, sold a product called PCD's (Pressure Compensation Devices), which fit onto the bottom of the nozzle or inside the adapter. These devices work very well and they could solve lawn adapter problems easily. I'm sorry that these devices were not advertised for that particular use. At that time they were not used to save water on a large scale. Now that the drought is over Toro has introduced PCD's into all of their nozzles and now use them the way we've used them since 1988. These companies were the first to come out with PCD's but we were the first to use them for our purposes. In the beginning, PCD's were only offered in one color, black, so it was difficult to differentiate between them. I developed a chart and color coded them. I painted them different colors to distinguish the different sizes. For example, PCD's made by Toro were 1 gallon per minute, 1.4 gpm, and 2 gpm. I painted the 1 gpm PCD's blue, the 1.4 gpm red, and the 2 gpm PCD's white. We have included a chart in this chapter which refers to this.

We were very excited about our WaterSavers and decided to to market them to everyone in the community who had a need them. We hired a sales representative who went up and down the 680 corrider plus points east on Hwy 4, and talked to anyone who might be interested in our WaterSavers on the commercial level; hospitals, schools, gas stations, PG&E, parks, and Cal Trans. We contacted all of these organizations and scheduled demonstrations to those who showed initial interest but none of them followed through with a purchase. I can only speculate as to their reasons. I believe its because the system was so simple they didn't take it seriously. I was disappointed to find out that they wouldn't even give it a chance. This was discouraging but I didn't let it stop me. Those who didn't understand didn't want to understand.

So instead, we put our energy towards our most willing, captive audience, the homeowners, our clients, because they all had a personal and monetary interest in saving water. My goal for the PCD's and WaterSavers, during the drought, was to have over 10 thousand pieces installed into the lawns and landscapes. I am happy to say that it happened. We packaged our WaterSavers into kits. My wife designed 2 brochures and a label for the package. They sold like wildfire amongst our clients, their families and their neighbors.

Our WaterSaver Kits were also picked up by some hardware stores and lumber stores. Unfortunately due to a limited advertizing budget, the WaterSavers did not get the exposure as we would have liked. Still, amongst those who actually used the product, the results were positive and the water savings was impressive. Here was a way to save water without thinking. Once you install them, they immediately do their job. I'll give you an example; we sold and gave away 10,000 WaterSavers, each saving one-eighth to one-half gallons per minute, on average those 10,000 WaterSavers saved 2500 gallons of water per minute. We sold 6000 WaterSavers to our own clients, in one minute those 6000 saved 1500 gallons. In one hour those 6000 WaterSavers saved 90,000 gallons of water. As you can see over one year the amount saved would be a very high figure. Every minute the water is on it is being saved. We hope that this chapter will inspire you to use WaterSavers.

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