5 Sprinkler Upgrades That Actually Save Water in Utah

Published February 28, 2025 · By Russ Lundberg, Lundberg Landscape

Sprinkler systems are the biggest variable in how much water a Utah home uses. A properly tuned irrigation system running on a smart controller can water your landscaping efficiently within current restrictions. A poorly tuned one — and most systems older than five years are poorly tuned — wastes 20–40% of the water it distributes, runs at the wrong times, and eventually fails in ways that cost real money to fix. Here are the five upgrades that make the most difference for Salt Lake County homeowners.

1. Replace Your Timer with a Smart Controller

If your irrigation runs on a fixed schedule regardless of weather, you're wasting water every time it rains. A smart irrigation controller connects to local weather station data via WiFi and automatically adjusts your watering schedule based on actual evapotranspiration (ET) rates, rainfall, humidity, and temperature.

The results are measurable. Homes in Salt Lake County that upgrade from timer-based controllers to smart controllers typically see 20–35% reductions in irrigation water use, primarily by eliminating unnecessary watering cycles after rain events and shortening cycle duration during cooler, more humid stretches.

We install Rachio, Rain Bird, and Hunter smart controllers. Most residential installs take 2–3 hours. The controller itself costs $150–$300 depending on zone count; installation adds $100–$200. The average Salt Lake County homeowner recovers that investment within one or two irrigation seasons through reduced water bills.

An important note: smart controllers automatically comply with Salt Lake County's rain-day restriction (no watering within 48 hours of measurable rainfall) and can be programmed with your city's specific watering-day assignments so you never accidentally run on a restricted day.

2. Convert Plant Beds to Drip Irrigation

Spray heads lose 20–30% of their water to evaporation and wind drift before it reaches the soil. During a hot, dry Utah afternoon, that number is higher. Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the root zone of each plant through low-pressure emitters, with virtually no surface evaporation loss.

If your property has planting beds — shrubs, perennials, trees, or any groundcover — converting those zones from spray heads to drip lines is the highest water-efficiency upgrade available. Plants also respond better to drip irrigation: they receive water directly at their roots on a slow, consistent schedule rather than in brief overhead sprays that saturate the surface but don't penetrate deep enough to encourage downward root growth.

In most Salt Lake County municipalities, drip irrigation systems are exempt from time-of-day watering restrictions that apply to spray systems. This allows you to run drip irrigation during the cooler morning hours that are optimal for plant uptake — not just during the restricted windows the city assigns for spray systems.

We convert individual zones from spray to drip as a standalone service, or include drip installation as part of zeroscaping and landscape projects. A typical zone conversion costs $200–$500 depending on bed size and emitter count.

3. Run a Spring Pressure and Flow Test

Most sprinkler systems are calibrated to a specific pressure range — typically 40–65 PSI for residential systems. Municipal water pressure in Salt Lake County varies and can fluctuate seasonally. Pressure that's too high causes spray heads to mist instead of producing a clean spray pattern, dramatically increasing water loss to wind drift. Pressure that's too low causes inadequate coverage at the ends of zones.

Every spring before the irrigation season starts, we run a pressure and flow test on every zone of the system. This identifies pressure regulation issues, head-to-head coverage gaps, and zones that are oversaturating or underwatering. We then adjust head spacing, nozzle size, and run times to match the actual pressure and flow conditions — not the design specs from when the system was installed 10 or 15 years ago, when the property's landscaping may have been completely different.

A full spring system test and adjustment typically costs $100–$200 and prevents the reactive repairs that happen when undetected problems compound through the season.

4. Get a Backflow Preventer Test and Certification

Utah state code requires annual testing of backflow prevention devices on all irrigation systems connected to a potable water supply — which includes the vast majority of residential systems in Salt Lake County. A backflow preventer keeps irrigation water, which may contain fertilizers, pesticides, soil bacteria, and other contaminants, from back-siphoning into your home's drinking water line if water pressure drops suddenly.

Many homeowners in Sandy, Draper, and South Jordan don't know their backflow preventer requires annual testing, and many more have received violation notices from their water provider or city for non-compliance. The test itself is quick — a certified tester connects gauges to the device and verifies the check valves are functioning correctly. We test, certify, and repair or replace backflow preventers that fail testing.

Testing runs $45–$75 for most residential systems. A failed backflow preventer that requires repair adds $100–$300 depending on the component that failed. Failing to test or maintain the device can result in municipal fines in some jurisdictions and, more seriously, can allow contamination of your drinking water supply.

5. Replace Any Head That's Over 10 Years Old

Sprinkler heads have a functional lifespan of 8–12 years under typical Salt Lake County conditions. As they age, nozzle orifices clog with mineral deposits from Utah's hard water, the pop-up mechanism weakens (reducing rise height and leaving heads partially obstructed by grass), and spray patterns deteriorate. An older system with original heads from installation is likely distributing water unevenly, with some areas receiving twice the intended water and others receiving half.

Modern sprinkler heads have significantly better water distribution efficiency than heads from even 10 years ago. High-efficiency rotary nozzles (like Hunter MP Rotators and Rain Bird R-VAN) apply water at a slower rate than conventional spray heads, allowing clay soils more time to absorb water before runoff occurs. In Salt Lake County's slow-draining clay, this is the difference between proper infiltration and expensive, wasted runoff.

Head replacement is inexpensive — $15–$45 per head installed — and a full system upgrade with modern high-efficiency heads typically pays for itself in water savings within 2–3 irrigation seasons.