Why are you watering the lawn when it's raining?

The city's seasonal water ordinance took effect this week, which restricts when people can water their grass. Which means it's time for my more or less annual plea for homeowners to turn off the sprinklers when it's raining.

In fact, even though it has rained off and on this week, with more rain forecast today and tomorrow, the sprinklers were on in full force this morning at six or eight houses when I took my daily constitutional.

The one thing I can never figure out, tree-hugging aside, is why people waste money to water when we've had enough rain.

Comments

[Brian]

Amen Jeff! From an unrepentant tree hugger (who nonetheless is not so bold as to tell his neighbors to turn off the water).

[Brian LaCroix]

Isn't it a requirement in the City of Dallas to have a rain/freeze sensor if you have a sprinkler system?

[Jeff Siegel]

Yes, the sensor cutoff is a requirement. But, like all things involving the city, I'm sure it's not enforced unless a neighbor rats you out.

[Txhusker]

I see them going when we have rain. I see them going a few days after we've had over an inch of rain. I see them going off and 50% of the water running down the gutter. What a waste....

[Bill Kennedy]

The other really silly about such folks is they seem to keep watering at similar rates all year round. The City counts your water consumption from Nov-Mar to determine your sewage charge for the following year. So, if you water a lot in those months, not only are you paying for water that likely isn't needed, you are pushing up your water bill for the next 12 months, too. And that sewage bill is about 1/3 of your total monthly charges!

[Triple Wildcat]

Agree on all of the above - stop wasting water! On a similar topic: Can anyone tell me why there's water trickling every night across Walnut Hill just west of Fieldcrest? Is that runoff from someone's sprinklers, or is there a leak somewhere?

[Txhusker]

I've heard that there are natural springs around. There's one up the block from me (lake ridge estates north) that provides a small, constant flow almost all year that runs down our alley. Don't know if that's true or not...it does go away in the really hot and dry weather.