A little maintenance goes a long way toward making your home irrigation system use water more efficiently, saving you money on your utility bills.

A little maintenance goes a long way toward making your home irrigation system use water more efficiently, saving you money on your utility bills. You can spruce up your irrigation system in four simple steps:

• Inspect. Check your system for clogged, broken, or missing sprinkler heads. Better yet, contact Folsom's Water Conservation Team and let one of our certified professionals perform a free Water-Wise House Call to check your system and identify problems, and provide you with helpful watering and landscape advice. Make an appointment by calling 916-355-7252 or visit waterconservation@folsom.ca.us.
• Connect. Examine points where the sprinkler heads connect to pipes or hoses. If water pools in your landscape or you have large wet areas, you could have a leak in your system. A leak as small as the tip of a ballpoint pen (or 1/32nd of an inch) can waste about 6,300 gallons of water per month.
• Direct. Make sure to direct your sprinklers to apply water only to the landscape ' not the driveway, house, or sidewalk.
• Select. An improperly scheduled irrigation controller can waste a lot of water and money. Update your system's schedule with the seasons or select a WaterSense labeled controller to take the guesswork out of scheduling.