Where else to explore

Obviously, selecting a proper irrigation system is more complicated than described here. The aforementioned is intended to serve as a starting point. You may want to refer to Chapters 7 and 8 of the accompanying literature review (included on the CD-ROM disk that houses the present document). Both of those chapters include relevant information.

For further details about any aspect of choosing an appropriate irrigation system and for information about the equally important tasks of using and managing an irrigation system, it's recommended that you check some of the many sources of information available both in print and over the Internet. Books that might prove useful include:

• Landscape Architect's Portable Handbook, by Nicolas Dines and Kyle Brown, published in 2001 by McGraw-Hill.
• Landscape Irrigation Design, by Eugene W. Rochester, published in 1995 by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
• Predicting and Estimating Landscape Water Use, published by The Irrigation Association in 2001. This booklet and a number of other relevant documents may be obtained by visiting the Association's Web site (www.irrigation.org).

For more information regarding recycled water systems, refer to the following publications:

• Guidelines for the On-Site Retrofit of Facilities Using Disinfected Tertiary Recycled Water, by the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association (1997).
• Recycled Water User Manual, developed by the Los Angeles County Recycled Water Advisory Committee in 2005 and available from the following Web link: http://www.watereuse.org/ca/pdf/RecycledWaterUserManual.pdf

Before proceeding to choose a system, you may also find it helpful to confer with irrigation specialists at the U.C. Cooperative Extension, or with irrigation-design consultants and manufacturers of parts for irrigation systems.

Photo credits

Four photographs in this module were provided by Dave Shaw, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and landscape advisor, San Diego county. They are: purple sign, purple valve, purple sprinkler, and raised bed. All others provided by L. Rollins.

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