Watering regs revisited still again

Open letter to Brenda at [email protected] and OpEd of Victorville, Ca Daily Press:

Thanks again for your immense patience and for keeping me in the loop. You don’t even have to read the following report as it does repeat an awful lot I’ve already communicated. However I’d appreciate it if you’d forward it to your immediate superiors, with my gratitude for some of the recent simplifications of the new watering restrictions. To facilitate this project certain fittings available from Amazon, remarkably two of ‘em presently on sale:

(1) Since we're no longer restricted to 2 days/week, for the single station (“dial”) we can use a much less expensive timer:

http://www.amazon.com/Orbit-62061N-91213-Single-Dial-Water-Timer/dp/B004INGS8S

Unfortunately at $25 it doesn’t know date or day of the week; so each station has to be programmed on a separate day. However, programming an Orbit is relatively easy. It can be set up to a 7-day lapse for tree stations requiring water only once a week. Presently 6 of our 12 stations fall in this category though given recent restrictions on watering time it’s our intention to completely shut down at least one or two of them, sadly including one presently watering about a dozen grown Arizona Cypress.

(Of course you have to factor in shipping costs, which drop considerably the bigger your order. But it gets complicated so good luck there, fella. If a problem you can probably instead find this stuff at Home Depot or Lowes.)

(2) In an attempt to more nearly conform with the new guidelines we are curtailing also many of the remaining 6 watering stations serving our garden and a number of smaller plantings. To this end,

(a) Rather than cutting off and folding back the 5/8” drip tubing we will instead simply insert this $2 compression valve, making it possible to occasionally check the remainder of the growths or even with a change of mind, to restore one or two.

http://www.amazon.com/Compression-Poly-Shutoff-Valve-compatible/dp/B000651K9E

The newcomer should be warned, incidentally, that the primary drip distribution tubing comes in two sizes, 1/2 in. and 5/8 in., referred to as .620 and .710 resp. However the .710 is often referred to in ads as “1/2 in.” This has been the source of much turmoil and confusion so be sure you’re getting the one you want. Again for the newcomer the 5/8 in.--as shown in the foregoing link--is probably to be preferred for its slightly better flow rate.

(2) In some cases you might wish not to cut off the 5/8 tubing but instead block only some of the 1/4-in. connections leading off from it. Handy for this purpose is the barbed valve at $1 each

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=1%2F4+barbed+valve&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=62250703764&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7230686909679986642&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_21cnphe73g_b

So hoping anyone reading this with constraints like mine, especially in the case of the larger property, will find it useful. In any case I am [email protected] and welcome any questions.

Dale Hileman
Apple Valley
(Where it almost never rains)