Success Stories: Manatee County
Tune up those lawn sprinklers to cut waste
Manatee County distributed 600 lawn sprinkler tune up kits to help educate residents on how to cut their irrigation waste water.
Even with steady population growth and a long-term drought in the Southeast, Florida landscapes still account for about half of all residential water use. Most homeowners have little understanding of their irrigation systems, leading to water waste and pollution. But some will improve their watering practices if offered assistance in an easily understood, user-friendly way.
With this in mind, Manatee County Extension Service, with the help of a community education grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, recently developed and distributed 600 lawn sprinkler tune-up kits to educate and empower residents to reduce their irrigation water waste.
These kits, with simple four-step instructions and colorful illustrations, made a handy do-it-yourself project. Ten sprinkler calibration gauges were included to provide a way for residents to find the correct watering times for each irrigation zone, often a big opportunity for saving water and improving lawn health.
Later, the Extension agent conducted an informal water meter follow-up study of 293 (49 percent) of the participants and found an average reduction in water use of 4,533 gallons a year for each participant surveyed. This resulted in an average utility bill saving of about $24 yearly for each participant. The program is estimated to annually save the participants 2.7 million gallons of water costing $14,400.
Do you have a success story?
We’re looking for inspiring Florida-friendly success stories like this one from Manatee County. Submit yours today at gardening@ifas.ufl.edu.
