Hydroponics recycles the same water over and over. You simply monitor the water level and top off as needed. Depending on what you are growing, and how much water you are re-circulating, this might be once a day or once a week, but it does not need a constant water supply. The drip irrigation does need a constant supply, but, as someone else mentioned, you can put the water in a tank, and then gravity feed the drips from the tank. So, you could run the water into the tank when needed, and unhook the water from it the rest of the time. I know you said you are in the desert, but do you get any rainfall? If so, you can collect that and put it in your tank for the drip irrigation as well.Though both drip irrigation and hydroponics seem cheap enough to start, doesn't they both require a water faucet? We live in a 5th wheel trailer and don't have a faucet to spare, and if we are able to use the kitchen or bathroom faucet (once the pipes thaw) we would be hooking/unhooking the system at least a dozen times a day for dishes, and other reasons.