On a hot Tuesday morning in August, Brentwood residents can use around 50 to 75 gallons of water an hour. That number sounds reasonable, but on a Wednesday or Friday early morning for example, if the sun is out, the city's usage can spike to over 700 gallons of water an hour.

The reason for this drastic fluctuation is that most automated irrigation systems in the city are programmed to water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings in the summer.  The ticking sound of sprinklers practically disappears on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

With warmer weather approaching, Brentwood Water Services wants to spread that usage out by encouraging residents to follow an Address-Based Irrigation (ABI) program. Under this VOLUNTARY program, residents with odd-numbered street addresses will schedule their irrigation systems for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Individuals with even-numbered addresses will water their lawns on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

“This would promote a reduction of the peak M/W/F water demand and spread that water usage out more evenly throughout the week,” Chris Milton, Brentwood Water Services Director, said. “The plan objective is to reduce peak day demand and aid in reducing long-term capital project costs, offset future rate increases, and reduce the likelihood that water restrictions might be required during drought conditions or during emergency events.” 

More water utilities are turning to ABI programs because of their proven success. In recent years, Nashville, Spring Hill, and Nolensville have promoted ABI programs because they have the potential to lower peak demands for water by as much as 40%. Some of those are mandatory programs. Brentwood is only recommending residents follow the ABI schedule.

“During those summer months, we’re able to provide water without issues currently,” Drew Muirhead, assistant director of Water Services, said. “Our water capacity is fine. We can provide water. This is more of a long-term, sustainable program we’re looking at doing.”

On hot Wednesday mornings in August, the city can supply more than 12 million gallons in a day. That amount can cause wear and tear on equipment and require the department to install larger pipes throughout the community. Conversely, during winter or non-irrigation months, supply is typically around 3-4 million gallons a day.  

“This is voluntary,” Muirhead said. “We’re not talking about any type of restrictions. It’s completely voluntary. We figure it’s better to be proactive and slowly roll this out to our customers and get buy-in and participation from our irrigation companies that do a lot of work in the area, and from HOAs that have irrigation systems for their open space, so that in three to four years we’re in a place where we want to be.”  We're also working with the various City department's to implement these changes to irrigation schedules at all the City owned facilities as well.  

The city will issue letters to HOAs and irrigation companies this month, announcing the voluntary program. All Brentwood Water customers are encouraged to water their lawns as before, only that they follow the proposed ABI program to determine which days they water.

Additional information and tips for Tennessee area landscape irrigation may be found online including the link below:

https://uthort.tennessee.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/228/2024/02/W871-Irrigation-in-Landscape.pdf

HAPPY IRRIGATING!!!!