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Outdoor Water Budget
Get Started: Schedule Your Irrigation Assessment.
Snowmass Water and Sanitation District (SWSD) is implementing a new program to help our customers understand their landscape’s water needs and potentially save a significant amount of water during irrigation season.
In 2025, SWSD measured all properties in the District to determine square footages of turf, bed and native areas. Using industry standards and local weather, the District created a customized water budget for each property. Look for the water budget information in the mail and emailed in January 2026.
Please be in touch with Water Resources Manager, Darrell Smith, if you can not locate your property specific information.
Why Does Your Outdoor Budget Matter?
Many customers do not realize they are watering much more than their landscape needs. SWSD wants you to know your own landscape’s water need, and utilize tools offered by the District to meet that target.
SWSD plans to update rate structures to include outdoor water use efficiency as a component of rates. The District encourages all customers to act now to upgrade their irrigation systems.
What's in an Irrigation Assessment?
A zone-by-zone site assessment will tell you where irrigation improvements are most needed. Recommendations could include upgrading a controller to a Weather-based system, adding a rain sensor, adjusting scheduling, or changing nozzles to improve uniformity of coverage. Schedule Now
Funding is Available (Limited Time)
- Free Irrigation assessment for single family residences. Commercial properties receive funding base on property size.
- Rebates for irrigation system upgrades (More info).
- Professional management for early program participants (up to $1500 available).
Upgrade Equipment
Weather based irrigation controllers and rain sensors are the important first steps in an irrigation efficiency upgrade.
- The following controllers are eligible for rebates as of 2026. Your irrigation assessment will provide the best options for your property and number of zones.
- Racchio
- BHyve
- Weather Trak
- Baseline
- A rain sensor saves water by interrupting irrigation during rain events.
- Other improvements that are mentioned in the irrigation assessment are eligible for rebates as long as a weather-based controller and rain sensor are installed first.
Help with Installation
SWSD is developing a list of recommended vendors who are experienced in installing efficient irrigation systems. Check back for more information in spring 2026.
Management is Key
An efficient system requires the right scheduling and maintenance.
The District is offering funding for irrigation management for early registrants in 2026, to help customers align their irrigation more closely to their water budget.
Irrigation Management includes:
- Early season start up and end-of-season blow out
- Bi-monthly wet checks/inspections
- Fine tuning of zone and controller settings
- Identifying maintenance issues that need to be fixed.
- The District will provide irrigation management up to $1500 per property for the first season, pending available funding. When you schedule your irrigation assessment, enter "Yes" in the box asking for your interest in management. Contact Darrell Smith for details.
Common Irrigation Issues that Waste Water
Make sure a single zone does not irrigate two different plant types. If you have a mixed hydrozone like above, the low-water plants will be over-irrigated because they receive the same amount as the water-thirsty lawn.
A tilted irrigation head will cause certain areas to be under watered and dry out. The solution is not to increase the run time but to straighten the head.
Plant obstructions or irrigation heads that are too low will block the spray and cause overwatering close to the head and brown spots further way . The solution is not to increase the run time but to cut back vegetation, move or raise the head.