The WaterMyYard Program

I listen to Pandora most morning on my way to work.  I don’t pay to have the commercial free version, so I am treated a variety of targeted ads each day.  Some are a little more on target than others.  Casinos…not so much, Come visit Arkansas…getting closer, the WaterMyYard program…nailed it.  Finally after hearing the ad a few different times, I took some time to actually look up the program.

The WaterMyYard Program was launched in May 2013 as a joint effort of the Irrigation Technology Program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the North Texas Water Municipal Water District.  It is designed to help homeowners use science-based information to allow them to make informed decisions about when and how to water their lawns. Most homeowners do not really understand how to interpret the weather (How much did it really rain?), nor do they understand their irrigation systems that well.  This lack of understanding leads to incorrect run times where too little, or too much water is delivered.  According to WaterMyYard.com, in urban settings, automatic irrigation systems typically “over-irrigate” (and waste) 20%-50% of the water applied.  That is a lot of water, especially for an area that regularly is in a drought.

The website allows homeowners in participating areas to sign-up and create an account with their specific information.  Things like location, sprinkler type, and sprinkler participation rate (if known) are all entered. A water recommendation is given within minutes telling the homeowner how long and how often to run their irrigation system.  Next, each account is given the option to receive automatically generated recommendations each Monday.

WaterMyYard makes their recommendations using the homeowner’s location.  WaterMyYard finds the closest ET weather station to obtain the necessary data. Next, information from research and demonstration projects is used to calculate the irrigation requirements for a typical yard. Then the irrigation requirements are reduced by the amount of rainfall that may have fallen in that area.  Soil type and soil depth are then taken into account.  Finally the homeowners sprinkler precipitation rate is used to calculate the appropriate days and times to irrigate.

The one hang-up with this system is that there needs to be an ET (evapotranspiration) weather station near you.  There isn’t one in my city.  In case you are wondering, they run about $5,000, so I won’t be purchasing for my city any time soon.  The current partners include: City of Irving, City of San Angelo, Fort Bend Subsidence District, Harris Galveston Subsidence District, Lower Colorado River Authority, North Texas Municipal Water District, Park Cities Municipal Utility District, and the Upper Trinity Regional Water District.

This truly seems like a great system for homeowners, allowing them to both save water and money on their water bill while also maintaining a great looking yard.  While I’m not able to participate, if you are in one of these areas, I encourage you to look into this program, or contact your local water department to see if they are interested in participating.  If not, it's always a good time to go out and do a irrigation audit and survey of your system.