Is the sprinkler system evaluation really free?

Yes. The Residential Sprinkler System Evaluation Program (RSSEP) is funded by the Tarrant Regional Water District, so there's no cost to the city or to you. A licensed irrigator checks your system and gives you efficiency recommendations. It's limited to one evaluation per address. Fort Worth water customers have their own free SmartIrrigation evaluation through Save Fort Worth Water. These are real programs your water rates already help fund — most people just never use them.

Who qualifies for the free evaluation?

Residential water customers of participating cities. North Richland Hills, Hurst, and a number of other Tarrant Regional Water District communities offer the RSSEP; Fort Worth customers use the Save Fort Worth Water program. Because eligibility and the sign-up process are set by each city, the surest move is to check your own city's water conservation page. If you're in North Richland Hills, it's at nrhtx.com/sprinkler.

Does the free evaluation include repairs?

No — and this is the key thing to understand. The free evaluation is exactly that: an inspection and a set of recommendations. The contractor may adjust your controller settings if you allow it, but they do not make repairs. When the evaluation turns up broken heads, leaks, or a failed sensor, you're handed a list of recommended professionals to get the work done. So the free program is great for finding what's wrong; you still need someone to fix it.

Are there cash rebates for smart controllers in North Texas?

Less than people expect. In the Tarrant Regional Water District area, the emphasis is on free evaluations and free tools rather than cash rebates — North Richland Hills, for instance, encourages upgrading to a WaterSense labeled controller but the headline benefit is the free evaluation, not a check back. Rebate offerings vary by city and water provider and change year to year, so it's worth checking your specific provider before you buy. Don't assume a rebate exists, and don't assume one doesn't.

What's the difference between the free evaluation and a wet check?

The free evaluation is a one-time, recommendations-only inspection scheduled through your city's contractor — great, but it stops at telling you what's wrong, and you only get one per address. A wet check is our own service: we run every zone, find the problems, and fix them on the spot, and you can have it done on a regular cadence. Honestly, the smart play is to use the free evaluation first — then call us for whatever it finds.

How do I sign up for the free programs?

For the free evaluation, start at your city's water conservation page — North Richland Hills residents can sign up at nrhtx.com/sprinkler, and Fort Worth customers through the Save Fort Worth Water site. For free watering guidance, sign up for Weekly Watering Advice from Save Tarrant Water, which recommends a schedule based on local weather, and browse Texas SmartScape for drought-friendly landscaping ideas. All of it is free, and all of it is worth using.

Reference · programs & savings

The free water-saving programs most North Texas homeowners don't know they have.

Landon Melvin Texas Licensed Irrigator · LI0031476 · Owner, Spray Irrigation Co.

Updated June 2026

Here's something most irrigation companies won't tell you, because it sounds like it's against their interest: your water bill already pays for a free, licensed-irrigator inspection of your sprinkler system — and free tools to water smarter. I'd rather you use them. They're genuinely good, and they make my job easier when you do call. So here's every program, who qualifies, the one big thing they don't cover, and where someone like me actually fits.

The headline

Through the Tarrant Regional Water District, North Richland Hills and many neighboring cities offer a free sprinkler-system evaluation by a licensed irrigator — one per address, no cost to you. Fort Worth customers have their own free version. Most people have no idea it exists.

The free evaluations

Two programs cover most of the Mid-Cities, and both put a licensed irrigation professional on your property at no charge:

North Richland Hills, Hurst & TRWD cities

RSSEP — free system evaluation

The Residential Sprinkler System Evaluation Program, funded by the Tarrant Regional Water District. A licensed irrigator inspects your system, points out waste, and shows you how to schedule it properly. One per address. NRH residents sign up at nrhtx.com/sprinkler; other cities run it through their own water conservation page.

Fort Worth water customers

SmartIrrigation Evaluation

Save Fort Worth Water offers a free irrigation system evaluation to residential and commercial customers — you get a detailed report with recommendations. Sign up through the Save Fort Worth Water site.

Both are worth doing. The one thing to know going in: these are evaluations, not repair visits — more on that below.

The free tools

Weekly Watering Advice (Save Tarrant Water). A free service that reads local weather and soil and tells you how much to water this week — often less than your city's two-day allowance. Pair it with your controller and you stop guessing.
Texas SmartScape. A free resource for drought-friendly, North-Texas-appropriate landscaping — the plants that thrive here without a heavy watering schedule.
Save Tarrant Water DIY video library. Short how-to videos on common sprinkler repairs, if you want to tackle the small stuff yourself.

The honest truth about rebates

People come looking for a rebate check for a new smart controller, and I'd rather be straight with you: in the Tarrant Regional Water District area, the emphasis is on free evaluations and free tools more than cash rebates. North Richland Hills, for example, actively encourages upgrading to a WaterSense labeled controller — but the real benefit on offer is the free evaluation, not a rebate. Rebate programs do exist in some Texas cities and water providers, and they change year to year, so check your specific provider before you buy. Don't assume a rebate exists; don't assume one doesn't. The free evaluation, though? That one's real, and it's everywhere around here.

Where a company like ours actually fits

Here's the part that makes the free evaluation worth understanding. By design, it doesn't include repairs. The irrigator inspects, recommends, and may tweak your controller — but when the evaluation turns up a broken head, a leak, or a failed sensor, you're handed a list of professionals and sent to get estimates. That's the gap, and it's exactly where we come in.

Free, once per address

The city's free evaluation

A licensed irrigator's once-over with a recommendations report. No repairs. Scheduled through your city's contractor. Great for finding out what's wrong.

Our service, on your schedule

A Spray wet check

We run every zone, find the problems, and fix them on the spot — and you can have it done on a regular cadence, not just once. The free eval finds it; we handle it.

So my honest advice: use the free evaluation first. Sign up, get the report, take the education — it's a good program and you've already paid for it. Then, when it flags the repairs it isn't allowed to make, call someone who'll actually fix them. If that's us, great; if you just want the report explained, I'll do that too. The free programs and a good local irrigator aren't competitors — together they're the whole answer.