While water is a staff of life it can also give you a big shaft in life! Like drought, floods and erosion.

Your property’s use of water while you are away should be monitored. If a pipe breaks or toilet valve leaks , thousands of dollars will be required to repair your interior finishes and furniture, not to mention the inconvenience.

In a lot of ways, water use outside your home is like inside use. It is delivered in a pipe, under pressure and controlled by a switch (valve) and a timer (controller). The main difference is that it is being delivered to living plants. Each plant has a specific need each day, week or month. A lot of things factor into consumption—sun aspect, temperature, wind, seasons, whether it is a native and soils to name a few. Water use should be monitored weekly in summer and monthly during other seasons. This is done for trees, shrubs and groundcovers by adjusting the watering time or the amount coming out of an emitter.

Turf is another matter. It must have specific quantities sprayed on it each day, each month. In summer it can require up to ½ “ per day, in winter 1” per week. Most irrigation problems stem from an installation done incorrectly or a part wearing out , like a valve, spray head or emitter. When this happens and the system is not monitored your water bill will escalate very fast! Not to mention flooding and erosion with additional monies to repair the damage.

Too much or too little water can also affect plant health (think infections) and the ability for it to develop a strong root system which can withstand wind storms during the monsoon/haiboob events. Did you know that a mature healthy landscape (especially cactus and trees) around your property can increase the value of your home by 15-20 %?

EHR Estate makes sure that the proper amount of water is available to your landscape investment so it continues to look great. As a registered landscape architect in Arizona, I welcome your questions for your property, please feel free to contact me.

Best Regards,

Thaumas P. Ehr