Saving water outdoors is one the most important first steps of water conservation. An estimated 50 percent of the water used in a single family home is spent outdoors on landscaping. Your lawn is where all that water probably goes. It takes 55 inches of water per year to keep grass green. However, even in what would be considered a wet year in the southwestern US, only around 11 inches of rain would fall. The remaining 44 inches needed by your lawn would come from your sprinkler system. However, common sprinkler systems are inefficient and lead to huge amounts of waste due to runoff, evaporation, wind, and improper design. As water is becoming more and more expensive and scarce, it is important to do everything you can to save water.

New rotating sprinkler nozzle technology from Hunter and Rainbird, enable an easy and affordable sprinkler system retrofit that brings improved water savings, and efficiency. Rotator sprinklers work better by delivering a “matched precipitation” type flow. “Matched precipitation” is designed to emulate rainfall, with its lower pressure and larger water drops. This leads to better wind resistance, and improved absorbtion by the soil.

These nozzles are also very easy to install! Here is how it is done:

Step 1:

Locate your pop-up sprinkler nozzle and pull it up. A tool like this makes it easy to pull it up, as sometimes they can be deep in your grass.

Step 2:

Once you pull up the sprinkler nozzle, unscrew it by turning it counter-clockwise. You should be able to easily do this with your hand. It usually isn’t that tight.

Step 3:

Remove the old nozzle and old water filter. The old filter is loose from the nozzle and should be sitting right inside the sprinkler tube. Once you have both those pieces removed, insert your new sprinkler nozzle. I am using the Hunter MP Rotator model. Depending on your old pop-up sprinkler body, you may need a replacement nozzle with male or female threads. The model pictured below has male threads.

Step 4:

Once the nozzle is installed, you will need to align it by using either a screw-driver or the Hunter adjustment tool. Different nozzles are designed to have different arc patterns. For example, some of the models are designed to spray only between 90-210 degrees. In order to reduce water waste, align the nozzle to make sure that it is spraying in the desired area, trying to avoid any overspray on to sidewalks or non-landscape areas.

See, that was easy!