City of Greeley Watering Restrictions
The Greeley Water and Sewer Board determine watering restrictions each spring, at the April Board meeting. Declaring an adequate water year or drought year is based on several
factors:
- Snowpack
- Colorado-Big Thompson quota (C-BT)
- Long-term weather projections
- Water storage
At this time, we do not anticipate drought restrictions, but it is important to practice restraint and let plants wake up for spring naturally and not to start watering too early. According to an ordinance, there is no lawn watering until April 15th.
However, we understand needing to water a little for the reasons mentioned above.
In 2020, Greeley City Council approved changes to Greeley’s watering restrictions for single-family water budget customers. Changes include adjusting non-watering hours and omitting day-of-the-week watering restrictions for water budget customers. Click here for a printable pdf of the current watering restrictions.
When installing a new lawn, you must get a lawn watering variance to water more. If you properly prepare your soil with compost and rototill it in, you will be given a larger water budget or more days to a week to water to get it established. We require 4 cubic yards of compost for every 1,000 square feet of lawn.
Watering Restrictions
No watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. There is no lawn watering without a variance between January 1 and April 15. It is recommended to stop regular lawn watering in mid-October. However, watering trees during the fall and winter (October through March) is allowed; visit this page for recommendations and best practices.
Single Family Customer on the Water Budget
May water any day of the
week
Residential Customers not on Water Budget
Even addresses: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
Odd addresses: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday
Commercial, Institutional, Industrial, Businesses, Churches, Non-profits, Multifamily, HOAs etc.
Tuesday, Friday, Sunday
Cycle and Soak
This method of watering is very effective to water your lawns and eliminate runoff. If you have a sprinkler clock that has multiple start times, take advantage of it and try the cycle and soak method. For example, instead of running your sprinklers for one long run time, divide it into 2 or 3 shorter cycles and you may find that you can cut down your total minutes run. Make sure that you have a non-watering period of 45-60 minutes in between cycles. It is important not to have it go more than 60 minutes between cycles. (We have seen people splitting cycle between day and evening and that is NOT effective) The first cycle wets the soil and then second and third cycle actually soaks into the root zone.
For a personalized watering schedule, call for a FREE sprinkler system audit or sign up online or call 970-336-4228.
| Sprinkler type | Run time needed | 2-Cycles
# of minutes each | 3-Cycles
# of minutes each |
Time in between cycles
|
| Spray heads | 15 | 7 | 4-5 | 45-60 min |
| Rotors | 45 | 22 | 13-14 | 45-60 min |
Cycle and Soak example| Original Schedule | | | |
| | 4 a.m. | | | |
| Zone 1 (sprays) north side shady | 13 | | | |
| Zone 2 (sprays) south side hot | 15 | | | |
| Zone 3 (rotors) east morning sun | 40 | | | |
| Zone 4 (rotors) west afternoon sun | 45 | | | |
| Total run time | 113 | | | |
| | | | | |
| New Cycle and Soak (2 cycles) | | | | |
| | 4 a.m. | 5 a.m. | | |
| Zone 1 (sprays) north side shady | 6 | 6 | | |
| Zone 2 (sprays) south side hot | 7 | 7 | | |
| Zone 3 (rotors) east morning sun | 20 | 20 | | |
| Zone 4 (rotors) west afternoon sun | 20 | 24 | | |
| Total run time | 53 | 57 | 110 | |
| | | | | |
| New Cycle and Soak (3 cycles) | | | | |
| | 4 a.m. | 5 a.m. | 6 a.m. | |
| Zone 1 (sprays) north side shady | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| Zone 2 (sprays) south side hot | 4 | 5 | 5 | |
| Zone 3 (rotors) east morning sun | 12 | 13 | 13 | |
| Zone 4 (rotors) west afternoon sun | 13 | 14 | 15 | |
| Total run time | 34 | 37 | 37 | 108 |