PLEASE shut off sprinklers before school commute time

For those of you with irrigation systems can you please set the timers to stop at 7am?

There is no reason the systems need to run into the school commute time. On the walk to school this morning there were several homes that had their systems running at 7:30 still. This causes kids and adults to walk in the street to avoid getting drenched and creates a huge risk of getting hit by cars, buses, etc. It is especially dangerous on the main streets leading to the schools.

Thank you all in advance!

 

They are left on for the kids who over slept and need a quick shower on the way to school

 

LOL - too funny!!!!

 

we have our system on at 3:30 am, so the water doesn't get wasted when the sun is out!

 

Come on...are you serious? People are supposed to time their sprinklers around school? Serious?

 

Why not?

 

I'm sorry, if I had a sprinkler system...the last thing I would be thinking about is...what time should I turn this on so no one has to walk around it. I'm thinking...when should I turn this on to MAXIMIZE my investment so that water is not wasted. I don't worry about it when I come home from work (nor does anyone else?) to water my lawn...why should I when the kids go to school in the morning? That's just crazy!

I do have kids by the way (4) and can understand the whole thing with them having to walk around the sprinkler and into the road to walk around...but still!

 

If you understand about "the whole thing" with not having kids walk in the middle of the road....then why are you posting? It certainly doesn't take too much effort to accomodate this simple request and to ensure that a child isn't walking in the middle of the street to avoid the sprinkler and then get into a dangerous situation with someone who is running late for school speeding by and having an accident. It was a neighborly request and should be no big deal to work with if the end result is keeping a child from getting wet on the walk to school or worse, walking the in the road. Especially on Ridgeway where the speeding is excessive. But by all means, you go ahead and think about you first.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking too. You do whatever's best or easiest for you, that's normal. But when you find out that it's inconveniencing (or worse endangering) someone around you, at that point you have a choice. If it's no skin off your back to run it at 6:30 instead of 7:30, why not?

 

This is the first house we've owned with a sprinkler system. When I was learning how to use and program it I considered the time; I didn't want to water when the sun was out and the water would evaporate, which led me to setting it to come on before 6am. This time frame happens to exclude school hours but I will say that I considered that a factor since I knew kids would be walking past our house to get to the bus.

However, if you like to walk your dog between 5-6am you're likely to get wet on odd days by our house.

 

My dog likes to drink out of the sprinklers we walk past.

 

I say split this the Solomon way. The homeowner, out of common courtesy, can simply adjust the watering time by 30 minutes or an hour. Likewise, the parents can teach and expect their kids to be a little ingenious and dodge the water safely. Good way to learn problem solving skills, no?

 

Good idea!!!!!

 

And somehow, I don't think the people who had their sprinklers on *this* morning (we got 5(!) inches of rain on Saturday, people!!!) aren't too worried about maximizing their investment.

Not sure if I should be amused or disgusted.

 

Wow...easy there pit bulls. There are some people that turn on their sprinklers when they get home from work too. Do you you expect them to adjust that time too for the kids playing on the sidewalk? Also, if you're so worried about your kids walking in the street...maybe you should be walking with them. I'm sure you can keep them safe as they walk on the curb for all of 10 feet.
I mean no disrespect, I just don't see the problem with kids dodging the sprinklers in the morning...mine do it everyday without going in the road. I never ONCE have thought ill of my neighbor for watering HIS lawn when HE wants to.

 

You see, that's what is so disheartening about this forum...one very simple and very neighborly request turns in to vitriol. Someone who lives in our community asked his or her neighbors to help out with something that impacts his or her kids as they walk them to school. I know I walk WITH my kids to school and deal with the sprinklers (and the tree limbs) and it sure would make it easier not to have to walk in the street to avoid getting wet. It wouldn't inconvenience anyone to accomodate the request and it would help out a neighbor; so my question is, why not? My little girl actually likes to dress nicely for school and doesn't want to get wet, nor do I. You can't run and dodge those pop-up type sprinklers--they are continuous. The only option is to walk in the road (you can't just walk on the curb in most cases as the sprinklers are busy shooting beyond them and watering the roads too). And on streets like Ridgeway this is dangerous. Where is the harm in the request? Where is the kindness in others? It really saddens me. Maybe I've just had a bad day, but this really makes me wonder what the heck is going on with people in our community when we have arguing about helping a neighbor out.

 

serendipity-
There was one or two negative sounding responses posted anonymously by people who we don't even know if they live in Broadlands.
I don't think that is truly indicative of a community of over 2700 homes.

 

Shouldn't the sprinklers just be calibrated not to water sidewalks and streets, regardless of time?

 

This is exactly what I was thinking! I am trying to figure out if the homeowners have their sprinkler systems on the VDOT easment side of the sidewalk or if they have not adjusted the sprinklers correctly.

Before we were told about the easments in our cul-de-sac my neighbor had his sprinklers installed next to the curb aimed at his yard. Well, the developer came in and tore up his yard to install a sidewalk and ruptured most of the pipes for the sprinklers. He relocated the pipes to his side of the sidewalk and aimed accordingly. Now, during the last week or so he has again tore up all of the pipes becasue FIOS (Miss Utility) has marked his yard with spray paint. Now he installed the system 5'-7' closer to his house and is hoping they don't destroy his system.

 

Because you can't put sprinklers in the VDOT right of way they must spray across the sidewalk.