Full Product Manual

Table Of Contents
THE DESIGN PROCESS
An Innovative Approach
Overhead, broadcast methods of irrigation are ideal for turfgrass, which requires
a uniform precipitation rate over its entire planted area. However, the use of
overhead irrigation in sparsely planted, nongrass areas causes water to fall on
unplanted ground and is wasted, or worse yet, promotes weed growth. A con-
ventional overhead system also is not the best approach for a mixed planting
where some specimens need more water than others. Such a system lacks the
flexibility of a drip system to deliver different amounts of water to different
plants in the same planting area. Even many low-volume design approaches fail
to truly optimize the application of water, when water waste below the plant root
zone is ignored or not considered.
This manual describes a design process that minimizes water waste below the
root zone and that strives to apply the precise amount of water required by each
individual plant or group of plants in a landscape. This design process is based
on actual cutting-edge research in the field of low-volume irrigation. Landscape
and irrigation designers can use this information to design systems based not
only on the size of a planted area, but on a plant’s root depth, soil type, water
requirement and density of planting for the greatest efficiency possible.
The Design Process Page 5
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