Santa Monica homeowners are becoming aware that if they are cited for overspray or runoff from their sprinklers, their options are limited and more costly than they expect. In the past, runoff problems were usually related to a broken head or pipe, or a misdirected sprinkler head. Today, the definition of acceptable runoff has changed from “less than lots” to “none.” This is a standard that is virtually impossible to meet with any spray or rotor system, except for very large properties with only large planting spaces. There are no residential properties that large in Santa Monica. Thus every homeowner with a sprinkler system in Santa Monica is liable to being cited any time of the day or night, any day of the week. Carefully designed and installed sprinkler systems are being cited right along side the most carelessly and poorly conceived systems.
Usually there are several modifications that can be made to sprinkler systems to reduce overspray and runoff. These might include (1) adjusting heads, (2) repositioning heads, (3) reducing the radius-of-throw of heads, (4) adding heads, (5) changing heads to higher pop-ups, (6) replacing old heads, (7) adding regulators to reduce pressure (and fogging), (8) adding check-valves to prevent drainage of heads. Some combination of these changes can often lead to dramatic reductions in runoff. Usually, the more extensive the modifications, the more runoff can be reduced. However, no amount of decreased overspray or runoff can assure that citations will not be issued.
The City of Santa Monica encourages what are called “low-precipitation” sprinklers to reduce runoff. However, low-precipitation sprinklers have severe limitations in small spaces because their length of throw is much longer than the usual spray sprinklers. In addition, the shorter low-precipitation sprinklers are less precise than the longer ones or spray heads, further frustrating adaptations for existing sprinkler systems.
While modifications of existing sprinkler systems can be as little as a minimum service call or some minor adjustments costing between $95 and $150, most modifications to address overspray and runoff on an average residence in Santa Monica will cost much more. For instance, changing all the nozzles on the parkway and the front yard might cost $500 or $600. But that alone would probably leave dry areas and still significant runoff and overspray. Often some heads need to be repositioned and modified throughout the parkway and front yard, typically costing between $1,500 and $3,500.
These costs are based on conditions a few years ago. Today the city imposes new restrictions and requirements on much of the work of modifying sprinklers that significantly increase the costs. The most significant is that of a reinterpreting an old city ordinance on parkway work to require an encroachment permit for installation or modification of sprinklers in the parkway. Our family has been in the sprinkler business in Santa Monica since 1926. It is only in the past five years that the city has been interpreting the municipal code in such a way that working on sprinklers in the parkway requires an encroachment permit. This means that work cannot be performed until a permit is obtained, usually meaning a delay of 1 to 4 days, a $179 fee, and the expenditure of significant time to pull the permit and return on another day to do the work. This requirement alone typically adds $370 to the cost of work that requires any digging in the parkway.
Another significant change over the past few years is that the public works department now requires that sections of sidewalk be cut, removed, and replaced to accommodate running a supply pipe under the sidewalk to the parkway. This work, process, and permit fees add about $1,000 to the cost of accessing the parkway with a new pipe. Previously it was acceptable to bore under the walk with a tight hole to install new pipe, a very quick and inexpensive procedure not requiring a permit.
There are a number of other regulations that impact the cost of system modifications, such as requiring a 24 inch buffer zone with no sprinklers next to walks, curbs and driveways. At the very least, this requires revising the entire sprinkler system in the affected sections. With recent city restrictions, permit fees and requirements, etc. most of the typical modifications to reduce runoff and overspray on existing sprinkler systems have increased in cost from $150 to $450 on the low end, and from $3,600 to $4,000 on the high end. None of this work can be guaranteed to preclude citations for overspray or runoff.
The most effective approach to minimizing overspray and runoff is to replace portions, or all, of a sprinkler section with drip. Drip conversion is not cheap. It is very labor intensive. Whereas redoing an existing parkway with spray heads might cost $1,200, redoing that same parkway with drip would cost $3,400. Similarly, instead of redoing the front lawn sprinklers at a cost of $2,700, redoing the lawn in drip might cost $5,700. The total cost of converting the parkway to drip and doing a 24 inch perimeter in drip for the front yard would be around $9,000 in this example. In my view that is not the end of the higher cost of drip. A good installation of underground piping for a spray system can be expected to last 50 years or more. I think drip will have a relatively brief life, especially if damaged in such a way as to allow dirt into the line. Though spray systems require periodic maintenance of sprinkler heads, I think drip will require periodic replacement, probably within ten years.
So it is a difficult choice for homeowners. On one hand there is drip with much higher installation and replacement costs, less flexibility in plant installation and replacement, but low or zero overspray and runoff, or on the other hand is spray with higher overspray and runoff, but lower cost and more flexibility. In the past, achieving full, even coverage of all plant material was the primary objective in sprinkler installations. Now full, even coverage must be sacrificed if overspray is to be reduced, or drip must be utilized.
