The sprinkler work that captures a reduction before any pruning or planting begins.
Most residential and commercial irrigation systems are leaking water in ways the property owner never sees — over-pressured spray heads, mismatched nozzles, controllers running on builder defaults, ET schedules that haven't been touched in five years. Irrigation optimization is the fastest, lowest-cost portion of any The Plant Institute engagement.
Tune the system that is quietly wasting water.
The failure modes we find on almost every property.
An irrigation system can be 100% functional in the contractor's sense — every head spraying, no leaks visible — and still waste a substantial amount of its delivered water. These are the recurring failure modes our irrigation audits surface.
Over-pressure
Spray heads run above their design pressure produce mist instead of droplets. The mist evaporates before reaching the ground. Pressure-regulating heads or PRV bodies fix this.
Mismatched nozzles
Within a single zone, mixing nozzle types or arc patterns creates wildly uneven application. Some plants get four times the water of others on the same run.
Overspray
Heads adjusted to throw onto sidewalks, driveways, or fences are watering the wrong surface. Re-aiming and adjusting sprinkler arcs reduce water waste.
Manufacturer-default controllers
Most controllers are set to a national-average schedule when installed and never touched again. Programming the controller to your soil, canopy, and local ET is the single highest-leverage software change available.
Long single runs
One 20-minute zone run on compacted soil produces 18 minutes of runoff. Cycle-and-soak — three short runs with rest periods — keeps water in the soil profile.
Old rotor heads
Older rotor heads with worn nozzles deliver poor distribution uniformity. Rotary nozzle replacements are a one-visit upgrade with multi-year savings.
Unmaintained drip
Drip and micro-spray systems clog, kink, and develop point failures. An unmaintained drip zone wastes more than it would have as spray.
Wrong scheduling logic
"Three days a week, ten minutes per zone" is not a schedule — it's a placeholder. Real scheduling tracks reference ET₀, rotates by canopy zone, and changes through the season.
What we evaluate on a residential irrigation audit.
An irrigation audit is a structured walk of the property with the controller running, head by head and zone by zone. We document, photograph, and pressure-test in real time. The output is a fix-list with priorities and estimated effect.
System-level
- Static and dynamic pressure at the source
- Backflow and main-line condition
- Controller make, model, firmware, and current programming
- Sensor presence, status, and connection
- Smart-controller weather feed configuration (where applicable)
Zone-level
- Zone-by-zone runtime, head count, and head type
- Distribution uniformity (catch-cup or visual where appropriate)
- Pressure at the head (spot-tested)
- Overspray and arc adjustment
- Per-zone soil infiltration vs. application rate
- Drip integrity for any drip zones
Why the smart controller you already paid for probably isn't running smart.
A smart controller is a tool. Out of the box, most installations are not configured for the actual property — generic zone profiles, default seed-database soil settings, no microclimate adjustment, no canopy awareness, and a weather feed that may or may not be relevant to your block. Optimizing the controller you already have usually beats replacing it.
Zone profile rebuild
Each zone is reconfigured with actual sun exposure, slope, soil type, and plant density — not the installer default. This alone often shifts watering minutes by double-digit percentages.
Weather feed audit
We adjust your controller to reflect your microclimate, not a regional aggregate twenty miles away.
Sensor integration
Where rain, soil moisture, or flow sensors are present, when appropriate, we wire them into the schedule logic. Where they're disconnected, we reconnect.
We correct the defaults in a smart controller by adjusting the controller to your microclimate.
Smart controller upgrades, rotary nozzle conversions, and pressure-regulating head replacements are eligible for rebates across nearly every water conservancy district. The Plant Institute Inc. prepares and files the rebate paperwork for every eligible homeowner project at no extra cost. The check goes directly to you.
- Weber Basin · Smart Controller / Rotary NozzlePer-program incentive
- Jordan Valley · Smart Controller / Rotary NozzlePer-program incentive
- Central Utah Water · Smart ControllerPer-program incentive
- Salt Lake City PU · Smart ControllerPer-program incentive
- Washington County Water · Smart ControllerPer-program incentive
Rebate amounts and eligibility change. We confirm current terms with your district during the analysis.
Have your sprinkler system audited as part of our analysis.
Every Water Savings Analysis includes an irrigation audit. Written report in 5 business days.
Free Water Savings Analysis
Includes a full irrigation audit.