Editor, Manteca Bulletin
I just stopped off at the Senior Center to pick up tickets for the Veteran’s Appreciation box meal this week and noted the landscaping going in around the new dog park. 
It looks like it will be really great landscaping but I am surprised by the watering system being installed.  Every few feet there is a riser (short plastic pipe that typically a spray head attaches to) sticking out of the ground.  Unless I’m mistaken, given the depth of the shrub beds, these risers are likely going to have spray heads attached to reach the full depth of the bed. 
This is the most inefficient watering method currently available considering the drought conditions.  Other commonly used heads on risers are ones that put out short, low pressure streams of water which work for immediately adjacent low lying plants. However, even this type head will not work for long because once plants grow above the risers, they will block the low pressure streams.  Just as an aside, I’ve walked through the Manteca Civic Center and noted many if not all the shrub beds have pop-up spray heads. 
Both of these locations make me question why the City is not installing drip irrigation in new landscaping and why existing irrigation hasn’t been converted over to drip.  The cost of drip is less, the water usage is far less, and the occurrence of vandalism is far less.

Bill Barnhart
Manteca