Learn How to Water

The recommendations on this page can reduce the amount of water you use for irrigation by 20 to 30%.

Irrigation Controller on wall.


Plants come in four water use categories - high, moderate, low, and very low water use - and the recommended watering times are different for each category. And, watering times vary by season. It's complicated, but we have two tools that make it simple.

Better Tool
Use Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's Bewaterwise.com watering calculator. It gives you recommended watering times for each month of the year based on your zip code, plant water use category, soil type, and sprinkler type. If one area of your yard is watered with spray nozzles and another area with drip, get separate watering schedules for those areas. Or, if you have high water use plants in one area and low water use plants in another, get separate watering schedules for those areas.

Best Tool
Weather-based irrigation controllers automatically adjust watering times each day based on the weather. They get the weather data from a sensor you install on your fence or home, or from the State of California's CIMIS weather stations. Note that we offer a rebate to make this technology available to homeowners and large properties.

Video: How to Install Rotating Nozzles

Video: Basics of Drip Irrigation