The WaterSavers stabilized the irrigation system as a whole. This simply means that the same amount of water was pushed through each nozzle so that the water was evenly distributed. Usually, with an irrigation system, more water comes out of the first several nozzles and less comes out of the ones at the end of the system. The WaterSavers forced the same amount of water to come out of each nozzle.
The WaterSavers brought fogging down to a minimum. This meant we no longer had to lose that percentage of water through evaporation.
The WaterSavers also saved water in the pipe because water was being evenly distributed. This water savings was substantial enough so that it enabled us to add more risers to the irrigation system. We could wire two valves together so that they worked together rather than separately. Now we could water a larger area in less time. The decreased pressure in the system also allowed us to use less water.
Nozzles can get destroyed when gardeners are careless with hedgers and weed eaters. Water running through the adapter still saves water. Breakage in the system through damage to the nozzle usually happens 25% of the time. The water running through the WaterSaver without the nozzle would shoot in the air 20 feet. This visibility makes the break more likely to be fixed before damage is done to the yard
We continued to look for ways to reduce water runoff. Through investigation I found out that two irrigation companies, Toro and Rainbird, sold a product called PCD's (Pressure Compensation Devices), which fit onto the bottom of the nozzle or inside the adapter. These devices work very well and they could solve lawn adapter problems easily. I'm sorry that these devices were not advertised for that particular use. At that time they were not used to save water on a large scale. Now that the drought is over Toro has introduced PCD's into all of their nozzles and now use them the way we've used them since 1988. These companies were the first to come out with PCD's but we were the first to use them for our purposes. In the beginning, PCD's were only offered in one color, black, so it was difficult to differentiate between them. I developed a chart and color coded them. I painted them different colors to distinguish the different sizes. For example, PCD's made by Toro were 1 gallon per minute, 1.4 gpm, and 2 gpm. I painted the 1 gpm PCD's blue, the 1.4 gpm red, and the 2 gpm PCD's white.
Those who used the product, the results were positive and the water savings was impressive. Here was a way to save water without thinking. Once you install them, they immediately do their job. I'll give you an example; We install 6000 WaterSavers , in one minute those 6000 saved 1500 gallons. In one hour those 6000 WaterSavers saved 90,000 gallons of water. As you can see over one year the amount saved would be a very high figure. Every minute the water is on it saved Water.
'Better Care Through Integrated Pest Management'
