Water Times – Stage 1
As the heat rolls on into South Texas, homeowners and landscapers need to tune up their watering schedules. First thing first, NBU’s watering restrictions. Every WATER customer of NBU has to follow the water restriction they have currently. The great news is the current stage is 1 which means watering any day of the week between the times of 8 pm in the evening till 10 am in the morning. If you want to water outside the timeline then all water must be done by hand with a hose, drip irrigation system, soaker hose, or a 5-gallon bucket.
Now, let’s get back to the “every WATER customer” comment. If you only have NBU as an electric provider, then no you don’t have to follow the regulations. This is typically for well-water homes and/or gardens. However, as a faithful citizen of the community and being a water conservationist, it would be to all homeowner’s advantage to follow these regulations for the security of our treasured water resources. If you would like more information regarding NBU’s water restrictions here is their web link:
- http://www.nbutexas.com/Conservation/WaterUsage/CurrentWaterRestrictionStatus.aspx
- http://www2.tceq.texas.gov/lic_dpa/index.cfm?fuseaction=licall.searchindiv
Prevent Water Violations
One more note on NBU; many customers (commercial and residential) are alarmed and disturbed by run-off water violations. This is where irrigation systems need to be checked, maintained, readjusted, or even reconstructed to prevent such overuse and waste of water. If you get one of these violations for water run-off or waste, PLEASE call a reputable irrigator (such as Liberty Lawn & Landscaping). Why? You will save a lot of your time and money in trying to find the source of the problem when licensed irrigators who specialize in this can find the problem and formulate a solution in less than 1 hour.
Professional Irrigators
However, I must stress the fact of professionalism, reputable, and licensed when discussing irrigators. Make sure the irrigator has a current TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) license which means they have obtained the continuing education units every 3 years to maintain a practicing license. The web link for checking an irrigators license status is http://www2.tceq.texas.gov/lic_dpa/index.cfm?fuseaction=licall.searchindiv. Make sure you have either their first and last name or their license’s number. In addition, check their experience. Active irrigators with 5 or more years are extremely knowledgeable and proficient in the business and have developed a good rapport with a valued customer base.
Some common issues to wastewater and excessive run-off are:
- pipe break
- leaky sprinkler head
- leaky irrigation valve
- overwatering (too much run time or frequency)
- sprinkler nozzle inadequately adjusted or broken
- a wrong sprinkler head for area coverage (watering concrete and asphalt)
- improper sprinkler system installation (high volume sprinkler heads)
Numerous developers in New Braunfels subdivisions install economical sprinkler systems due to price limitation. When the homeowners move in, we find many irrigation issues such as improper irrigation programming and design. If you live on a corner and/or have a slope to your front property, this is likely to occur to you. Have an irrigator review your system and provide any adjustments. It is better to pay $75-105 a visit for an irrigator then to pay an excess water usage bill and a hefty violation fee.
Next Week
In next week’s blog, we will touch on how to water effectively and efficiently, when to water for plant productivity and disease prevention, and maintaining ground moisture. This will be a three-part discussion because water is essential for all life and we must be resourceful with all our usage, especially landscape.
Got Questions? CALL 830-629-5296