From the City of Rockwall:
Water usage in the City of Rockwall has risen sharply over the hot summer months. To combat the heat and keep lawns green, Rockwall residents have increased water utilization substantially from June to July. The average daily water usage for all residents in the city was just over 9.1 million gallons in June. And in July, that average jumped to 15.5 million gallons, including a three-day spread where usage topped 19 million gallons each day!
As a result of the rise in consumption, residents have seen the increase reflected in their water bills. While the hot, dry days in July caused people to finally turn on their sprinkler systems, residents need to look further. Here are a few items to check around the house to help limit water waste and help keep your bill down:
• Leaking faucet
• Running toilet
• Broken sprinkler heads
In ground sprinkler systems are effective, but can also be wasteful. There are many moving parts that can malfunction or be damaged while mowing or edging, for example, and it’s a good idea to test sprinkler heads periodically. In addition, most people set their timers for sprinklers to run in the middle of the night, when no one would be awake to notice a malfunctioning sprinkler.
“One broken sprinkler head can have a major impact,” says Travis Sales, Interim Director of Rockwall Parks and Recreation. “A typical spray head puts out an average 2 gallons per minute, whereas a broken head can put out 20+ gallons per minute. If you run your sprinkler for 20 minutes, without knowing you have a broken head, you could be using 400 gallons per cycle—from just one head, and all systems have multiple heads and multiple zones. Meanwhile, the water is running down the street at 2 a.m., which would most likely dry up by the morning when you see it. Plus, your lawn didn’t receive the much needed water, you’ve got a higher water bill, and we’re wasting a precious natural resource.”
