In order to keep your garden green, running and healthy, irrigation is a must. A Drip Irrigation system is relatively easy to set up, and is very effective. Irrigation is one of the oldest technologies known to men. Yet, its importance is undeniable. But in recent times, a lot of other things are to be taken into consideration before putting your irrigation system to use.
These include cost-effectiveness, water economy, etc. Keeping these in mind, a number of irrigation methods have been invented and used over the years. But the most useful method of the lot is the drip irrigation system. It saves a considerable amount of water while it doesn’t require too much time or effort. Thus, drip irrigation is considered the most effective and smart method of irrigation currently.
One issue regarding drip irrigation is that it’s expensive, although the first time investment is a lot high, it gets cheaper as it doesn’t have a very high maintenance cost or a lot of effort isn’t required in fixing it.
Thus, eventually, the cost is taken care of. In this article, we are going to discuss how much drip irrigation system costs and how to get the maximum output at the least price.
So, let’s get started!
The Costs Of A Drip Irrigation System
The cost of a drip irrigation system depends on many factors including materials, installation, and maintenance. Also, the size of the yard, frequency of use, presence of large sized trees, etc. change the cost accordingly.
By looking into the markets and chalking an average sized yard, the price of establishing a drip irrigation system in an average sized yard is presented.
Materials
For a drip irrigation system, it needs a number of materials to run properly. These include faucets, different nozzles, valves, etc. Generally, the cost of materials ranges from $110-$180 with an average cost of $145. However, if these costs seem too high, cheaper pre-made kits are sold for $25-$50.
These kits generally contain everything you need but it’s very likely it won’t cater to your preferred size and they generally aren’t the best in quality. So, it’s advised to choose a customized, made for your preferred tool.
Installation
Installation is where most of the money is spent. In an average system, almost $300-$700 is spent behind installation because it’s involved a lot of labor-intensive work such as digging and plumbing. However, if you have an established irrigation system, the cost will go down significantly.
Maintenance:
Maintenance is the key to running any system. As most of a drip irrigation system is underground and it can be connected to any water system, and run from your faucet only; maintenance isn’t that hard. Overall, a $50-$100 dollar might be needed in a year to keep everything functioning unless natural calamities happen. Digcorp has a great guide on how to best maintain your system.
Other Factors Related To Cost Of Drip Irrigation System
There are a few other factors that can affect the cost of your drip irrigation system, which are:
Yard size
No yard is too big to have a drip irrigation system. However, if the yard is too big, it’s most likely going to be a lot more expensive. Also, it takes a lot more time and effort to build a system based on a larger area than it is to build on a small region.
Quality of parts
It should be pretty self-explanatory but nonetheless, parts’ quality matters a lot. If you look forward to making sure your irrigation system lasts for a considerably long time and doesn’t put you into a lot of trouble than you’d choose the best quality products.
However, the market has a lot of products of different types, there are a few really high-end ones that don’t have the quality. Again buying the cheapest product in the market isn’t going to be of any help either. Thus, choose the right product at a moderate cost and plan accordingly.
Uneven ground
If the ground is uneven, planning your irrigation system is a bit problematic. In such cases, some part needs more digging and some parts require less, thus a bit of money is spent on planning the entire thing.
However, if the unevenness of your field is too problematic, you can try re-grading your yard. Re-grading means turning the yard level by a bit of effort. It’s not a bit expensive but regrading ensures a much better quality after irrigation is complete.
Soil type
For soils of different kinds, you’d need different kinds of measures. If you have a somewhat muddy soil, digging is easier and cheaper as it involves less labor-intensive work and machinery. But for Rocky and Sandy soils, they’d need a hefty ton of machinery to be taken care of. Thus, soil type also deals with the cost.
Large trees
Sometimes, there might be large trees in the yard. For their presence, it’s very likely that their roots might get in the way of your irrigation and they need to be taken care of as well. Thus a cost might be spent on uprooting the trees or making alternate ways.
Consultation
Although not mandatory, consultation is important. Especially if your yard has any of the factors mentioned above and you’re struggling to make ends meet, a consultation with the expert is all you’d need.
You might find ideas for yourself but an expert always knows better. So you know whom to look for. It might set you back for some money but it’s always worth it.
Conclusion
We hope by now, you know how much drip irrigation system costs and what are the determining factors. You might have to spend $1000-$1200 to have a well-oiled drip irrigation system comprising everything you’d need. But, do keep in mind everything is arbitrary, prices vary based on geographical regions, availability of material and the situation around.
But this is a very acute estimate of the amount of money required to establish a running system. It might seem a bit too expensive in the beginning but once the system starts functioning a large chunk of the cost is curtailed as the maintenance cost is very low and a large chunk of water is saved.