Controllers That Water on Weather, Not on a Timer
A dumb clock waters the same minutes in a cool, wet May as it does in a 100-degree July, and clients rarely reprogram it. WaterSense-labeled smart controllers fix this by adjusting run times automatically. Two families exist:
- ET (weather-based) controllers: calculate evapotranspiration - how much water plants and soil lost - from onsite or local weather data, then replace only what was used.
- Soil-moisture-based controllers: a buried sensor allows or blocks the next scheduled cycle based on actual root-zone moisture.
Both typically cut 15-30% off irrigation use versus a standard timer, and many utilities rebate them. Specify a WaterSense model, register it to the correct local weather station or ZIP, and enter the real site data (soil type, slope, plant type, sun exposure, precipitation rate per zone). A smart controller fed garbage inputs waters no better than a clock.
