Should spray heads water shrub beds?

Generally not. Spray is built for even coverage over turf. Shrubs, trees and groundcovers in rock mulch are usually better served by drip, which places water at the roots with less loss to wind and evaporation. Keeping spray on turf also keeps water off walls and walks.

What should I receive when a new system is finished?

Ask for a written list of which plants each station waters, where every valve box and the main shutoff are, where drip filters sit, and the controller program. Watch every station run once. That record makes later troubleshooting much faster and keeps parts replacement aimed at the right zone.

Irrigation System Installation

Lay out valves, lines and emitters from the planting plan so each plant group runs on its own schedule.

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Zone the yard the way the city's table is built

The City of Surprise Landscape Watering Guidelines are written plant group by plant group: desert-adapted trees, high-water-use trees, desert shrubs, groundcovers, cacti, annuals, warm-season and cool-season grass, each with its own interval for four seasons and its own target depth. The same page says turf, planters, trees and shrubs should be watered separately and that sprinklers should serve only turf. A new system that follows that advice ends up with more, smaller zones than the common one-valve-for-the-front-yard layout.

Ground conditions shape the trench. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension explains that caliche, soil cemented by calcium carbonate, can stop roots and water, perch water above it and let salts build up. Where a planting hole will not drain, Extension advises opening a drainage hole through the layer beside the root ball, not under it. That affects emitter placement and how long a drip zone can run.

The connection and the paperwork

Surprise is served by eleven water providers, and the provider on the bill sets the rules at the connection. For premises on the City of Surprise system, the city code requires an approved backflow device where state rules or the city's judgment call for one, tested when installed and at least yearly by a tester on the city's approved list, with reports filed through the city's online tester system. The city does not publish a residential irrigation permit procedure on its water pages, so confirm requirements with the city and provider before work at the supply.

Handover should include a station map, the shutoff location, every filter and the first program. Arizona's contractor licensing law also matters here: the small-job exemption does not apply where a local building permit is required. Related pages: drip irrigation, smart and Wi-Fi irrigation controllers and backflow preventer testing.

Source: City of Surprise, Landscape Watering Guidelines, Checked Oct 1, 2026