Water Like a Farmer

The arrival of hot weather signals the traditional start of urban irrigation season as property owners turn on sprinklers to off-set the area’s semi-arid weather conditions.  So the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District wants its thousands of property owners to think like farmers rather than city folk to get maximum benefit from their lawn and garden sprinkler systems.

District officials say that pressurized urban irrigation systems involve irrigation practices that are common to farmers. For example, the idea you should only irrigate your lawn at night does not apply when you are using pressurized systems that make use of canal water.

 In pressurized systems, canal water is being supplied to irrigation systems 24/7 so the systems are designed to supply water to a large percentage of users at all times.  Homeowners are encouraged to irrigate at any time of the day, a method contrary to municipal systems that recommend that irrigation be done at night to hold down expensive municipal water costs by avoiding evaporation.

John Anderson, NMID water superintendent: “All these sub-divisions have to live within the water rights so there’s a limited amount of water that we have available for their use. We encourage them to irrigate 24/7. Spread the use of that water out so it’s not so over-taxing on the system as well as the pumps. Farmers irrigate 24/7 and they’re growing crops constantly. I think it’s a mis-nomer where private water purveying companies say you’re going to ruin your grass if you irrigate in the heat of the day. I think that’s very incorrect.