The Fifth Principle: Water Efficiently
Efficient irrigation is where a xeriscape either delivers its promised 50-75% outdoor water savings or quietly bleeds money and callbacks. As a contractor, your job is to move water to the root zone with minimal loss to evaporation, wind, and runoff, and to make the schedule easy for the client to leave alone.
Drip vs. Spray Efficiency
Overhead spray heads typically deliver 50-70% distribution uniformity in real yards, and a meaningful share of that water is lost to evaporation and wind drift before it hits soil. Point-source and inline drip runs at 90%+ efficiency because it applies water slowly, at the soil surface, under the mulch.
