When we think of watering the lawn, we think mainly about Greenpal of sprinklers circling like on a football field, or with diffusers in a particular garden. It is so that surely you have not seen and probably do not know that there is another option.
Spraying presents certain problems:
Lack of uniformity: By default a sprinkler irrigates more quantity in the center of the circle that forms the irrigation, than in the edge. In addition, overlapping different sprinklers so that irrigation is more or less uniform is not easy. If in addition the form of the garden is sinuous the thing is complicated, and if it is a day of wind, more.
Lack of control over the amount of irrigation: The water flow is difficult to control because it depends on the pressure (which can vary throughout the day) and the sprinkler or diffuser. Knowing how many liters per square meter we have watered, requires calculations.
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Losses due to evaporation when watering on the surface.
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Impossibility to irrigate with wastewater in public spaces, prohibited by law. In the golf courses it is irrigated by sprinkling with residual waters but they are not public gardens, in addition there is the problem of the emission of odors that those who live near the fields suffer habitually.
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Accumulation of water in low areas of gardens with slopes.
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Need for high pressures. To irrigate by sprinkling we will need good pressure in the network or use a pressure group.
What option is there?
The alternative is buried drip irrigation. It consists of a polyethylene pipe with integrated drippers and specially designed to operate buried, anti-root, anti-suction and self-compensating.
The installation is very simple, the pipes are installed covering the entire surface, meeting the distances recommended by the manufacturer. They are covered with between 15-20 cm of earth, if the earth is already extended; small ditches are made to introduce the pipes. And finally the lawn is planted and irrigated.
This type of irrigation has been in commercial use since the 1980s and offers many advantages. It has been proven effective in a wide variety of gardens and arose mainly from the need to save water and reuse wastewater.
These systems solve the aforementioned problems:
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Lack of uniformity: All the land is irrigated in a completely uniform way.
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Lack of control over the amount of irrigation: We know exactly how many liters per hour and square meter we are watering, so we can make a correct balance of water in the soil.
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Losses due to evaporation: By watering below the surface, we greatly reduce evaporation from the surface, taking advantage of that water for the plant.
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Impossibility of watering with wastewater: When there is no possibility of contact with the irrigation water, regenerated waters can be used without any danger.
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Accumulation of water in low areas: The low flow rates of the drippers allow the soil to retain water and prevent it from accumulating in low areas.
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Need for high pressures: This system can work at much lower pressures, with consequent energy savings.
Maintenance
The maintenance is similar to that of a normal drip irrigation system. It is convenient to do an annual acid treatment to dissolve possible calcareous deposits that obstruct the drippers and to control the pressures at the end of the lines to detect possible obstructions. A well-installed, well-maintained and well-designed system can operate efficiently for many years.
