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Pressure regulated sprayheads or PRS ensures optimal minutes and sends a text or email alert that you have
nozzle performance and more efficient irrigation, a problem,” Donahue said. “And it automatically
Donahue said. They eliminate misting and fogging, adjusts the irrigation schedule based on the weather
reduce costly accidents and property damage, and or the amount of moisture in the soil.”
restrict water loss by 70% if a nozzle is damaged.
He closed by reminding AASBO members that
Another device is a pressure gauge adapter, which many municipalities have rebates for purchasing
determines how many PSI (pounds per square inch) a such items as smart controllers.
sprinkler head is using. If there is too much pressure, a
school is wasting water, perhaps as much a 300 gallons Doug Donahue can be reached at: ddonahue@ewingirrigation.
per minute. “More water is used – less efficiently,” com or (480) 619-9943
Donahue said. “You’ve got to get that under control
with a high-efficiency nozzle. It’s easy to change
nozzles and they’re not expensive.”

Among the pros of drip irrigation, Donahue said it’s a
more efficient way of watering, has design flexibility,
helps eliminate runoff, it’s easy to add onto, and it has
lots of capacity.

The cons of drip irrigation include: it has many small
components, it’s hard to tell when it’s on, it requires
more maintenance, salt builds up, emitters can clog,
it’s easy to cut through the poly tubing and it uses
non-pressure compensating emitters, according to
Donahue. He recommended having a strategy to deal
with them.

Poly tubing lasts about 10-to-15 years. When a leak
pops up and you fix it, know that more leaks are
coming. “You get one here, then there,” he said. “It’s
a time bomb.”

"Compared to poly, PVC lasts 25 years," Donahue said.

Some cities are getting rid of non-functional turf,
and he wondered if schools are as well. He defined
non-functional turf as being less than 4-feet wide and
therefore difficult to water.

Donahue touched on smart controller technology.
If for example a head gets ejected, that could run
for a half hour, wasting water and causing damage.
“A smart controller shuts the valve off within three

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