Playground Sprinkler Control

Kids love cooling off in playground water elements on those hot, muggy New York City summer days. Until now, those sprinklers just ran nonstop during playground hours. Putting two-minute timers on NYC playground sprinklers will save 1.5 million gallons of water a day.

New York City has unveiled a plan to add two-minute cutoff buttons to more than 400 playground sprinklers in the five boroughs. Currently, playground sprinklers run nonstop, dispensing four million gallons of water a day. The water from the sprinklers goes to the city's sewer system.

Under the new $6 million Department of Environmental Protection program, stations will be installed about 10 feet away from each of the sprinklers with buttons that kids can press to activate the water. Each sprayer uses 7,000 gallons of water a day. With the retrofits, the city expects to save 80 percent, or about 5,600 gallons of water a day from each of the sprinklers, or about 1.5 million gallons of water a day overall.