I live on a community lake/drainage pond. Half of the lake is surrounded by homes; the other half is bordered by the main entry road into the neighborhood so it is community property. There is a community irrigation system around the edge of the lake and each yard has two sprinkler heads. The system is a single zone (watering all the way around the lake at once) and the controller is set by the neighborhood homeowners association's irrigation/landscape subcontractors using an in-ground controller box on the road side of the lake. Any time the sprinklers run, the lower 50% of my yard gets watered. The problem for me is that it runs way too often and many of my plants are getting over-watered, especially in winter. The picture below is old and I have far more planting beds now than in the photo.

I know where the controller is and I reset it once, but it eventually got reset. I would like to be able to turn on/off the two heads in my yard and know that they are not going to water my yard regardless of how the controller is set.

My plan is to lift each head and install a shut-off valve just below the head. Each head is a Hunter PGP. I would change out the risers so that both the shut-off valve, and obviously the head, are above-ground. Neither head is in an area of walking traffic where someone could trip on them, so that will not be a problem. I think a manual shut-off valve will work perfectly for what I want! I don't know if they make valves that are UV light resistant - will I be replacing them each year after they crumble due to light and heat exposure?

I would love any opinions, comments, advice or help. Below is a photo of my back yard taken from the common area across the lake.

Thanks! Greatly appreciated!
Carol in Jacksonville

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This post was edited by love_the_yard on Thu, May 2, 13 at 11:30