[Sidney Lanier]

The leak is fixed! Turned out that when our neighbor had some edging put in around his beds, the fellow who did it for him broke off one sprinkler completely, leaving the end in the ground (meaning that every time it was on, it was like leaving a hose running with full pressure...). In addition, the dolt buried a second sprinkler to the point that it could not pop up to water, leaving a large segment of lawn unwatered. Our neighbor felt bad and insisted on paying for the repair.

The repairman (from the company that had installed the system to begin with) then set the controls in accordance with the water restriction requirements and explained that the zones sprinkle in sequence starting at whatever time. We deferred to him, and he suggested starting at five a.m., two of the ones (oscillating heads) needing a half hour each and the other three (strictly sprinklers) needing 15 minutes each. He also explained that the St. Augustine grass that we have tends to grow thicker vertically over time, meaning that the heads may need to be nudged up periodically. (They are on flexible lines.) All other water programs are turned off, and now we'll see how it works. We are VERY pleased with the work this man does and would highly recommend him to anyone needing work done with his or her sprinkler system; he's also a landscaper and I would suspect does quality work.

Now we have to see how future bills look....