You may believe that anyone has the ability to water a lawn properly or, that watering your lawn simply means turning the hose on it. think again. Also, someone always knows someone that hired fly-by-night Denver irrigation contractors and, when they went to call them because of a problem the contractor's number had been "disconnected".

"Currently at the state level, Colorado does not have any certification requirements for irrigation contractors. However, despite the lack of mandatory regulations to enforce contractor certification or licensing, many contractors take the initiative upon themselves so they can better serve consumers like you." (www.conservationcenter.org) Organizations such as the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado and the Irrigation Association both offer certification courses for those business owners in the industry that wish to be seriously considered, provide a better service and keep up with the latest trends in the industry.

Lastly, Denver irrigation contractors all need to know about irrigation procedures such as in-ground, surface, localized, drip, center-pivot vs. Lateral move sprinkler irrigation and sub-irrigation - and, so should you.

The conservationcenter.org strongly recommends that, when looking for a Denver irrigation companies, "it is important to make sure that the services the contractor provides match the services that you wish to receive. Some contractors may perform design and installation while other contractors may only do one or the other. Remember, you are not just buying an irrigation system, but you are also buying the service of a contractor. Below are a few things to consider before signing a contract.

• What services do you want?
• Is the Contractor professional - what certifications does the company or employee hold?
• Who will actually be installing the system? - make sure that the person that holds the credentials will be involved in the installment.
• Get references - talk to current and past customers to see if they were (are) satisfied with the contractor.
• Get estimates in writing - review contract carefully before signing, or get estimates from multiple contractors. As a general rule of thumb, you get what you pay for.
• Consider the bid - make sure the contractor is offering a bid that meets all of your needs."

Watering a lawn means simply that - turning the hose on and allowing your sprinkling system to water your yard. Irrigation, on the other hand, means using specialized irrigation instruments such as sprinklers and different irrigation techniques - surface, lateral, drip, etc., which best meets the requirements of your lawn - and, your pocket.

Check this link for Denver sprinkler companies.

In this particular case it's "keeping up with the competition". Denver sprinkler companies should strive to keep up to date with the latest innovations and trends in their industry. Fortunately, for them, two entities - the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado and the Irrigation Association offer certification courses and seminars just for those purposes.

The Irrigation Association offers several certification options such as Certified Irrigation Contractor, Irrigation Design, Water and Conservation Manager which denotes that these Denver irrigation contractors desire to provide better and more specialized services to their clients.

There are different types of irrigation techniques for your landscape maintenance. The irrigation technique for your landscape will depend on the requirements. The system used to water a field of corn will not be the same kind as used to water your lawn. Below, learn about the different types of systems so that you may better understand Denver irrigation contractors' jargon:

In-ground: Used mostly for residential and commercial purposes - "everything is buried in the ground. With the pipes, sprinklers, and irrigation valves being hidden, it makes for a cleaner, more presentable landscape without garden hoses or other items having to be moved around manually." (www.wikipedia.org)

Surface Irrigation: Involves "water moves over and across the land by simple gravity flow in order to wet it and to infiltrate into the soil." (www.wikipedia.org)

Localized Irrigation: ".water is distributed under low pressure through a piped network, in a pre-determined pattern, and applied as a small discharge to each plant or adjacent to it." (www.wikipedia.org)

Drip Irrigation: "Also known as trickle irrigation. Water is delivered at or near the root zone of plants, drop by drop. This method can be the most water-efficient method of irrigation, if managed properly, since evaporation and runoff are minimized." (www.wikipedia.org)

Sprinkler Irrigation: ".water is piped to one or more central locations within the field and distributed by overhead high-pressure sprinklers or gun." (www.wikipedia.org)

Center Pivot: This type of irrigation is for large fields of crops where "sprinkler irrigation consisting of several segments of pipe (usually galvanized steel or aluminum) joined together and supported by trusses, mounted on wheeled towers with sprinklers positioned along its length." (www.wikipedia.org)

Lateral move (side roll, wheel line): Also for very large tracts of land - i.e., fields, and much more labor-intensive than center pivot - "A series of pipes, each with a wheel of about 1.5 m diameter permanently affixed to its midpoint and sprinklers along its length, are coupled together at one edge of a field. Water is supplied at one end using a large hose. After sufficient water has been applied, the hose is removed and the remaining assembly rotated either by hand or with a purpose-built mechanism, so that the sprinklers move 10 m across the field. The hose is reconnected. The process is repeated until the opposite edge of the field is reached." (www.wikipedia.org)

Sub-Irrigation (seepage): This type of irrigation is used in fields where the water level is high. ".a method of artificially raising the water table to allow the soil to be moistened from below the plants' root zone." (www.wikipedia.org)