Irrigate efficiently for water saving in the landscape.

Keep in mind the following statements as we work to make efficient use of our limited water resources.
1. It’s better to water your landscape deeply and infrequently, as opposed to frequently and shallowly.
2. Runoff and waste are undesirable (obviously!).
It would seem that these two principles are at odds with one another, but if you have a reasonably current irrigation controller the solution is straightforward. Generally speaking sprinklers put out water at too great a rate for the soil to absorb, leading to runoff. This reality is reflected in the current water restrictions which prevent one from running a spray sprinkler system for more than 5 minutes at a time. If the site is less than level even 10 minutes could lead to runoff and waste.
One solution is to program multiple start times, so that the irrigation comes in pulses, allowing the water to absorb and penetrate between watering. Like the bone dry kitchen sponge, a bone dry soil takes time to soften up and absorb water. Try running your sprinklers for half the time you normally would, then program your controller to run again one hour later again for half the normal run time. By doing this you help minimize runoff while getting water deeper into the soil.