How much outdoor water is typically wasted?

EPA WaterSense estimates that about half of the water used outdoors is lost to evaporation, wind or runoff from overwatering. An audit shows where that is happening on one property, so fixes can be ranked by how much water they recover rather than by guesswork or the newest gadget.

Should repairs or upgrades come first after an audit?

Repairs. Leaks, broken heads and weeping valves waste water no matter how clever the schedule is, and a new controller cannot fix them. Once the system works, upgrades such as hydrozoning, drip conversion, better nozzles and a smart controller can be weighed against the water each one saves.

Irrigation System Efficiency Audit

Measure how each zone really waters, then fix the losses before changing the schedule or buying equipment.

Request an estimate(623) 624-0780

Measure first, then decide

An efficiency audit treats the system as something to measure rather than guess at. It walks every zone while it runs and records what it finds: heads that are broken, tilted or spraying paving, nozzles that do not match, emitters that are dead or misplaced, valves that weep, and soggy or dry areas that do not fit the plants. It notes which plants each zone serves, how much sun they get and whether turf and shrubs share a valve.

The City of Peoria has shown on its own property what that kind of review can find. Its parks turf reduction project removed 45 acres of turf and 2,407 irrigation heads and planted 815 drought-tolerant trees, and park water use fell from 120 million gallons in 2023 to 66 million in 2025. A home audit works at a smaller scale, but the logic is the same: find where water is not doing useful work, then change the system rather than the stopwatch.

From findings to a Peoria plan

The report separates repairs, which stop waste, from improvements, which make the system easier to run well. Repairs come first, because the city's own rebate page says smart controllers do not fix leaks, broken parts or inefficient design. Start times are checked against Peoria's 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. window and its advice to avoid 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and zones that run off are flagged for cycle and soak.

The improvement list is specific to the lot: splitting mixed zones, moving shrub beds from spray to drip, swapping mist nozzles for larger drops near the ground, and reconsidering small, curved or sloped grass areas that the city says are hard to water efficiently. Where it fits, the report points to City of Peoria programs for city water customers, such as the smart controller and grass conversion rebates, free Sustainable U classes and onsite landscape consultations. Follow-on work is usually sprinkler repair, smart and Wi-Fi irrigation controllers or drip irrigation.

Source: City of Peoria, Parks Turf Reduction Project, Checked Oct 1, 2026