Why Flourish Irrigation?Flourish Irrigation will bring your yard back to life. Summers in South Texas can be harsh, without the proper irrigation your yard will be proof of this. Transform your yard into a lush landscape. Be the envy of your neighbors, and have that curb appeal that everyone desires for their dream home. With an irrigation system installed by Flourish Irrigation you will save time, money, and conserve water.
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Because Quality Matters |
If you are considering installing an automatic sprinkler system I would suggest that you learn as much as you can about the design requirements, and installation of a quality irrigation system. There are many factors to consider when designing an irrigation system that will save time, money, and conserve water. First and foremost the best decision is to hire a licensed and insured contractor.
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There are many unlicensed contractors that will compete on price, but it costs you the customer in quality, knowledge, design, and warranty. It is actually unlawful for a landscape irrigator to install a system without being licensed by the TCEQ (Texas Commission of Environmental Quality. This is for good reason; Licensed Irrigators are obligated to conduct business by the mantra “Protect and Conserve Water.”
The "protect" portion insures that your system meets local and state requirements that ensure the potable water supply (suitable for human consumption) is not contaminated by the back flow of water from your irrigation system; the importance of backflow prevention cannot be overstated. Basically, this is achieved by the installation and testing of a proper backflow prevention device. The responsibility for cross connection control (where the irrigation system meets the potable water supply) falls with local and state regulatory agencies, the water purveyor, and the end user. This means that if the potable water supply is contaminated, and there is reason to believe that the end user (homeowner) knowingly employed an unlicensed landscape irrigator, the home owner could be held accountable. On the other hand, employing a licensed landscape irrigator insures that you have a qualified, knowledgeable person who is required by law to complete training, licensor testing, and continuing education regarding cross connection control. Furthermore the irrigator can face monetary penalties as well as loss of license for not complying with state laws regarding the protection of the public potable water supply.
Conservation in irrigation is a growing concern, and has been addressed by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality through design requirements, along with the requirement for licensing of landscape irrigators. The Conservation statement insures that licensed landscape irrigators have knowledge of new state law requirements on design, basic hydraulics, they understand the concepts of distribution uniformity, precipitation rates, hydro-zoning, matched precipitation, and evapotranspiration. To design an efficient irrigation system that saves time, money, and conserves water the licensed irrigator should be able the match the water out with the water in. To achieve this efficiency, basic hydraulic knowledge is essential in placing the proper amount of heads or emitters into a zone, and calculating pressure loss in the system, so they do not vary extremely in pressure ensuring efficient operation, at the manufactures required pressure. An irrigator should then take into account the water required by the landscaping area, then zone these areas accordingly, coordinate irrigations parts (matched precipitation) to achieve distribution uniformity, use some basic mathematical computations to achieve proper zone run times, and finally consider run off possibilities. It is not exactly rocket science, but there is more to a quality design then meets the eye.
In closing, not every irrigation system is designed equally, similar to not every car manufacturer engineers the same quality of vehicle. We as customers often times make the mistake of being short sighted in purchases, because of what seems to be saving on the initial investment only to pay for that saving and more during the lifetime of the product. One good example is LED light bulbs; they have higher initial cost, which makes grabbing the standard bulbs on the shelf so much easier. However, if the customer took into account the LED lifetime on average is six times longer and uses half the energy, they may be persuaded to ante up and purchase the LED bulb. I enjoy making observations of inefficiently or improperly designed systems, you can spot them by the way they are irrigating the hardscape (concrete), using improper run times resulting in major run off into the gutter, or to high or low operating pressures leaving spray heads misting or sputtering. Then there are my repair jobs, those are the most telling, and most expensive for the homeowner. Valve boxes buried all over the yard, with no site plan provided to the homeowner. Wires that have been buried just below the surface which are unknowing cut during routine yard work. It goes without saying that finding the cut lines to repair or rerunning wire at the proper depth that has not been irrigated recently can become quite expensive when being charged by the hour. I can’t complain, because faulty design helps me stay busy with repairs. Just as the LED analogy, the customer who purchased a irrigation system from the unlicensed contractor may have saved a few bucks on installation only to pay for it in high repair charges and higher water bills. With a quality design the customer will not have money running into the gutters, but rather a system that efficiently meets the specific demands of their landscape needs.
The "protect" portion insures that your system meets local and state requirements that ensure the potable water supply (suitable for human consumption) is not contaminated by the back flow of water from your irrigation system; the importance of backflow prevention cannot be overstated. Basically, this is achieved by the installation and testing of a proper backflow prevention device. The responsibility for cross connection control (where the irrigation system meets the potable water supply) falls with local and state regulatory agencies, the water purveyor, and the end user. This means that if the potable water supply is contaminated, and there is reason to believe that the end user (homeowner) knowingly employed an unlicensed landscape irrigator, the home owner could be held accountable. On the other hand, employing a licensed landscape irrigator insures that you have a qualified, knowledgeable person who is required by law to complete training, licensor testing, and continuing education regarding cross connection control. Furthermore the irrigator can face monetary penalties as well as loss of license for not complying with state laws regarding the protection of the public potable water supply.
Conservation in irrigation is a growing concern, and has been addressed by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality through design requirements, along with the requirement for licensing of landscape irrigators. The Conservation statement insures that licensed landscape irrigators have knowledge of new state law requirements on design, basic hydraulics, they understand the concepts of distribution uniformity, precipitation rates, hydro-zoning, matched precipitation, and evapotranspiration. To design an efficient irrigation system that saves time, money, and conserves water the licensed irrigator should be able the match the water out with the water in. To achieve this efficiency, basic hydraulic knowledge is essential in placing the proper amount of heads or emitters into a zone, and calculating pressure loss in the system, so they do not vary extremely in pressure ensuring efficient operation, at the manufactures required pressure. An irrigator should then take into account the water required by the landscaping area, then zone these areas accordingly, coordinate irrigations parts (matched precipitation) to achieve distribution uniformity, use some basic mathematical computations to achieve proper zone run times, and finally consider run off possibilities. It is not exactly rocket science, but there is more to a quality design then meets the eye.
In closing, not every irrigation system is designed equally, similar to not every car manufacturer engineers the same quality of vehicle. We as customers often times make the mistake of being short sighted in purchases, because of what seems to be saving on the initial investment only to pay for that saving and more during the lifetime of the product. One good example is LED light bulbs; they have higher initial cost, which makes grabbing the standard bulbs on the shelf so much easier. However, if the customer took into account the LED lifetime on average is six times longer and uses half the energy, they may be persuaded to ante up and purchase the LED bulb. I enjoy making observations of inefficiently or improperly designed systems, you can spot them by the way they are irrigating the hardscape (concrete), using improper run times resulting in major run off into the gutter, or to high or low operating pressures leaving spray heads misting or sputtering. Then there are my repair jobs, those are the most telling, and most expensive for the homeowner. Valve boxes buried all over the yard, with no site plan provided to the homeowner. Wires that have been buried just below the surface which are unknowing cut during routine yard work. It goes without saying that finding the cut lines to repair or rerunning wire at the proper depth that has not been irrigated recently can become quite expensive when being charged by the hour. I can’t complain, because faulty design helps me stay busy with repairs. Just as the LED analogy, the customer who purchased a irrigation system from the unlicensed contractor may have saved a few bucks on installation only to pay for it in high repair charges and higher water bills. With a quality design the customer will not have money running into the gutters, but rather a system that efficiently meets the specific demands of their landscape needs.