05/02/2026
As we switch from town to tank water for the summer I’ve been mindful of how much water we use in the garden, particularly after reading an article on ABC news “How the garden sprinkler conquered Australia”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-01/sprinkler-water-resources-garden-green-desert-reticulation/106244818?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link
This morning I did some calculations on our water use since installing automatic irrigation, and the results are in..
In the three years since our $2000 (parts only) system was put in, our water use has increased 30% over the full year. Comparing the three years since installation with the three years before, It’s up 33% in summer, up 60% in spring, but down 16% in winter and down 30% in autumn.
So from that I can see that our water is being used more accurately, when the garden needs it. Our system is linked to weather data, so it responds when it’s cooler or when rain is predicted by decreasing the irrigation durations.
I’m pretty happy with that.
And from my rainfall records I see that in the three years rainfall has averaged 488mm ,down from 647mm average. That’s 25% less rain!
So on the whole I’m satisfied the irrigation system with the Hunter X2 controller is doing its job.
Our task now is to find new ways to reduce water use and use more recycled water, and more stored rainfall, particularly water from the dam and creek that so far we haven’t tapped.
Stay tuned for more!
