Property-Type Playbooks
Residential inground irrigation
Homeowners should locate the assembly, confirm whether it is an RP, DCVA, PVB, or other device, keep it accessible, arrange annual testing where required, and coordinate spring startup and winterization. The most common avoidable problems are buried access, missing records, freeze damage, an untested replacement, and a PVB that no longer sits above the highest downstream outlet after landscaping changes.
Strata and condominium landscaping
Strata properties should treat irrigation protection as a common asset unless legal documents and system configuration establish otherwise. Maintain a device register, identify which buildings or landscape zones lose water during testing, coordinate with the landscaper, and budget for repair before peak watering. Mixed-use stratas should verify whether restaurant patios, rooftop planters, commercial irrigation, and residential landscape zones share the same protection.
Commercial buildings and retail sites
Commercial irrigation may be only one of several regulated systems. The property manager should reconcile irrigation devices with domestic premises isolation, fire protection, boilers, cooling equipment, and tenant systems. New landscape contractors sometimes add fertilizer injection or temporary tank connections without recognizing that the hazard classification has changed.
Farms, greenhouses, and nurseries
Agricultural properties require the most careful review. Wells, ponds, irrigation ditches, tanks, pumps, livestock, chemical storage, fertigation, sprayer filling, washdown, and food-processing equipment can create severe hazards and multiple cross connections. Premises isolation may be required even where individual sources have their own protection. Keep municipal water physically separated from alternative sources unless an approved engineered arrangement exists.
Parks, sports fields, and golf courses
Large systems should maintain site maps, valve and assembly coordinates, pump information, source identification, chemical-treatment records, and seasonal work orders. Testing should be planned around field use, tournaments, irrigation windows, and pump operation. A single premises assembly may not address every internal connection, so source isolation remains important.
Rainwater, reclaimed water, and alternative sources
Alternative-water systems require clear pipe identification and physical separation from potable water. Cross-connected fill lines, automatic makeup, shared pumps, common headers, or temporary hoses can defeat the intended separation. Any potable makeup should use an approved method, frequently an air gap or specifically engineered arrangement, and the municipal service may require additional premises isolation.
