Automated watering at night - does anyone do that?

Yep, best to dig an illegal well and finish off the groundwater. So the lawn is always nice and green... who cares if the farmers next door no longer have water for their fields. The bread comes from the supermarket anyway.

And here goes the ideology again, oh man We should ban lawns or better yet private gardens and lawns yes we must not forget those must also be banned. Pools anyway, even the small ones for the "little ones" they will understand anyway they are the last generation so they gladly give up a piece of childhood. Unfortunately apparently no irony

He will recover again, too.

Sure, in autumn. But does one have a garden to sit in a dry wasteland in summer when one can be outside? If you don’t water here, nothing grows except cacti; even the perennials need regular water. We are currently seeing it at the neighboring property; the owner died last year and no one takes care of it. Everything is brown, a few yuccas are still holding on.

with us, the groundwater level is currently above average. But the rain often comes as heavy rain, so you need a large cistern to be able to use it. Our well has been certified for over 130 years. However, it is rather fed by surface water.

Regarding your irrigation: - for lawns, Hunter rotators. Preferably the pressure-compensated housings. Sprinklers need to reach each other - for drip irrigation, Rainbird XFS line How many valves (irrigation zones) you need depends on your pump and garden. Use potable water line (PE-HD) as supply.

I am not a big fan of moisture sensors. Either battery-powered and then you have to keep changing them all the time. They stick out of the area. You need many to get a real "picture." The lawn shows you exactly when it is time to water. A fox stole a sensor from my uncle just two weeks ago. Wired ones require a lot of installation effort and also need to be at the exact right depth.

How complex the control system is also depends on your number of valves. There are no good controls for HomeAssistant. Basically, only power supply, Shellys, EPS... work here. I would rather recommend an autonomous system like Hunter Hydrawise. Here you can also access weather data from the surroundings. We use these at several locations. Irrigation duration takes temperature, sunshine hours, wind, etc., into account... Until you have programmed that yourself, you’ll go crazy. I myself use KNX. But mainly because I can control several zones simultaneously. Exactly that is not desired in "normal" irrigation systems because the flow is limited there. However, our controller is not nearly as "intelligent" as the Hydrawise system.

Have you already planned the irrigation? What data does your cistern pump have?

Yep, best to dig an illegal well and give the groundwater the rest. So the lawn is always nice and green... who cares if the farmers next door no longer have water for their fields.
The bread comes from the supermarket anyway.

No farmer waters their fields here, it's not even affordable.
And there are actually legal wells.

Nothing grows here except cacti, even the perennials need regular water.

That depends on the perennials/planting and the soil. Permaculture and good soil care bring a lot. I don't water my garden at all, except the compost and the vegetable garden. And that only with old tea and wastewater from the kitchen and shower that occurs. That's not a lot, but at least something. The plants have to manage with that. So far, they do.