Sprinkler Systems

The sprinkler system is the main lifeline for horticultural well-being in climates that lack consistent and predictable rainfall. Irrigation is intended to be a supplement to nature watering through precipitation (rainfall). Rainwater is by far and away from the best source of water and nutrients for optimal plant life - so the best irrigation systems water when the landscape has utilized all available natural moisture and requires more to sustain proper growth.

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Why Do I Need a Good Sprinkler System?

Here in the desert irrigation systems are vital to maintain and establish new plantings while they adapt to the desert sun and little natural moisture. Landscape plants outside of the desert-adapted and native species, require regular watering to remain viable and healthy. Turf as well, requires regular watering. All of which is easily accomplished through a well-designed and properly-installed irrigation system. 



An Irrigation ‘System’ is indeed a system in every sense of the word. The components all work together to achieve the intended result – and if one fails or operates erratically, the overall efficiency and performance of the water delivery suffers.  The irrigation service provider, installer, designer, technician all seek to conserve water – while using it to give nature a little boost.  There are laws and building codes in almost every state in the country regarding it’s design, connection to the public water supply, and in some regions, what days and times irrigation systems may operate.  These are all set in place with an eye toward conservation and public safety.

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Parts of The Sprinkler Systems

The system starts with the point of connection- where the irrigation system pulls water from – the water source.  This is most often a domestic irrigation meter – and in the residential world – shares the water with the dwelling.  Most all counties within the US have codes regarding this connection to the public water supply.  There are devices that provide protection to the upstream supply should a change in the water flow rapidly occur causing a ‘backflow’ of water from your irrigation system piping back into the main water supply. These devices are therefore aptly named – backflows (or backflow prevention devices).  The whole premise behind this layer of protection is that once water has entered the irrigation system it has the potential to come in contact with debris, foreign matter, mold, etc that could be pulled into the city water supply causing possible contamination.  More information can be found in the backflow section regarding the types and installation practices of backflows in numerous applications. The backflow is usually preceded by a shut-off valve and wye strainer and followed by a master control valve.  All of these components make up the ‘point of connection’ for the system.. The shut off valve is the manual control valve that allows water to enter the system or not. NOTE – this shutoff valve is the emergence shut-down for any irrigation system. It is good to know where this is in order to quickly shut things down should you see an issue as a homeowner.  As much as irrigation service companies love to charge an outrageous emergency fee to come out and simply turn this valve by hand – most would prefer you have this handy information as the homeowner and be able to operate it.


After the shutoff valve there is a wye strainer. It does exactly what it sound like it does and strains the water and preventing any large debris particles from entering the system.  Irrigation system emission devices (spray heads – drip emitters) have very small openings/orifices.  The wye strainer has a properly sized screen to provide optimum protection to the emission devices so as to prevent blockage and watering inefficiency.

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What Are The Types of Drips in Residential?

The backflow is then in line after the wye strainer with a Master control valve - the last component in this point of connection line.  The master valve is the second line of defense for an irrigation system in regards to water waste. Without this master valve in place the irrigation system is under constant pressure.  Should there be a small break in the mainline that suddenly becomes a large break – there is the possibility of wasting (and paying for) more than 4000 gallons of water for every hour it remains unnoticed.. That’s just under 100,000 gallons of water every 24 hours – on the conservative side.



A master control valve only allows water into the irrigation system when it needs it (when the clock/controller is running a cycle)..  The thought here being that since water would only leak in a mainline break when the irrigation controller is running the water waste is significantly reduced..to the tune of 4000 gallons per hour. 

After the master valve the system and point of connection have been properly ‘protected’ – the water enters a portion of piping called the mainline. This mainline carries the water to the valves.. Valves should be placed throughout the system as opposed to all being in one general location. The intent there would be to manage the flow and pipe sizing (ultimately affecting cost).



Control valves are located normally in green-topped round or square boxes. If you have a system you have probably seen them.  A valve is controlled with electricity generated at the controller – carried through directly buried wires (not in conduit) – that tell it when and for how long to ‘open ‘..  The valve opens when notified electronically and delivers water to a section of your landscape divided up by the systems designer depending on 3 main variables - the type of plants in the area, the amount of water the system can deliver, what type of emission device is delivering the water. 

Trees, lawns, shrubs, flowers, edibles, and gardens all require different amounts of water delivered with differing devices at different frequencies.  Spray heads deliver water in a large pattern and are best in large turf areas. They deliver water with a relatively low precipitation rate (the amount of water a device will deliver efficiently to a given area of space). Bubblers (used for trees) deliver water at variable rates of flow. They generally run rather fast and deliver a large amount of water quickly.  Trees love a very large drink of water at infrequent but regular intervals.. This promotes deep root growth and healthy overall form.  Shrubs – especially desert shrubs – are best watered with drip irrigation. This concept is characterized by devices with extremely low precipitation rates and flows and deliver water directly to the root system footprint.   The practice of separating your irrigation system zones by separating the emission devices and watering requirements based on best horticultural practices is called Hydrozoning and is required by code in almost all locations that have irrigation code.


All of the above is controller by a controller – or clocks (as the older generation refers to them). The controller is basically and primarily a clock – with some irrigation friendly features.  Standard clocks for residential use plug into the wall – contain contacts to run a unique wire to each valve as well as a place for a common wire connection (that runs from the controller and connects to every valve in the system).  When connected the wires from each valve will have a corresponding number on the controller. The controller is then programmed to run each zone at its optimal time and for best duration.
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