As California's drought continues, the state has placed mandatory restrictions on outdoor water use such as watering lawns and gardens if it causes excess runoff. Horticulture specialist Loren Oki at the University of California, Davis describes a few ways to avoid excess runoff caused by sprinkler systems.

"So, what you have to do is to slow down that precipitation rate either by improving the system by putting in a different sprinkler system—the typical sprinkler system are fan sprays they put on water pretty fast, the new spray heads all have these new systems and they put on water slower more closely to how fast the soil can absorb the water. The other thing you can do is pulse the system put on a few minutes, wait thirty minutes, sixty minutes put another few minutes on and you can avoid run off that way."

Oki says runoff occurs because typical irrigation systems overwater the soil.

"Most typical irrigation systems put on water faster than the soil can absorb it. Just think about that, if the soil can’t absorb it, then the excess is going to go in the gutter."