Tinkering with your timer:
Time to reset your thinking about HOA irrigation
By: Michael Casper
VP of New Business Development, ArtisTree Landscape Maintenance & Design Email: mikec @ artistree. com Phone: 941 / 488-8897, Ext. 321 artistree. com a
It’ s only natural. When your lawn begins to brown or your plants begin to wilt, you’ re likely to blame lack of watering— either by Mother Nature, an irrigation problem or local water restrictions. But in your mind, no one seems to be listening or doing anything about it— not your community association, your property management company or your landscape maintenance provider( even though they’ re adhering to your community’ s contracted watering schedule).
You’ re so fed up that you decide to take things in your own hands. You go out and manually reset your irrigation timer to green up that landscape of yours.
Setting off a chain reaction
By doing so, you’ ve just set off a chain reaction, even if you’ re just one resident in a 500-home community. Manually resetting your irrigation timer can disrupt scheduling, contribute to low
water pressure, increase unnecessary landscape crew time and, in some cases, violate community watering restrictions. Also, tinkering with your timer and trying to turn your system on manually at the valve can sometimes result in an emergency call that would be charged directly to you or your HOA.
Real-life examples
a A large community receives a regulated amount of water each day, at which point the system automatically shuts off. A few homeowners adjust their irrigation timers so their water stays on longer. The system shuts off early, depriving other residents of water.
a A community’ s lakes are low because of drought conditions. County watering restrictions have been put in place. Several homeowners decide to turn on their irrigation anyway, overstressing the community’ s water
36 community • June 2025 WWW. CAIWeSTFlORIDA. ORg