Published: Mar 06, 2019 | 12:15 PM

Spring Forward for Water Efficiency

Evenings will become lighter beginning Sunday, March 10, 2019, as we set our clocks forward one hour for daylight saving time.

Remember to make this adjustment to your clocks before you go to bed Saturday night.

The semiannual time changes coincide with seasonal changes in weather, when irrigation controllers and sprinkler times should change. Your landscape’s water needs decrease as the days get shorter and cooler, and increase as days get longer and hotter, so it’s a good idea to check your controller at the same time you change your clocks.

To ensure that your sprinkler schedule is not interrupted, change the batteries in your controller as well. Most controllers use a 9-volt battery to maintain the programmed schedule in the case of a power outage. When the controller battery dies, the schedule automatically resets to the factory default of watering 10 minutes a day, seven days a week.

And while you are changing out your irrigation controller battery, it’s also a good time to change out the batteries in your home smoke detectors.