“We don’t believe everyone should have irrigation. We have found that behavior change produces the best savings and technology can help.” –Dana Nichols, Manager Outdoor Programs, San Antonio Water
New-and-improved wireless controllers, innovative subsurface irrigation systems, improved rotator nozzles, decoder technology, and sophisticated soil sensors are among the newest technologies being marketed by the leading irrigation systems manufacturers. But that’s not the whole story in irrigation efficiency as reflected in Nichols’ remark.
There is also growing interest in educating irrigation installers. Brian Vinchesi, an irrigation consultant who works with the Irrigation Association, says he would like to see more educated installers. “The irrigation installation side is the greatest problem area because licensing is not required,” he says.
Often, buyers will choose the cheapest installation. However, there are a lot of places where individuals can get educated, but they are the self-motivated. There is no incentive to motivate others, Vinchesi argues.
Municipal water agencies agree. But they also agree, along with manufacturers that customers are intimidated by, or don’t want to bother with, the complexities of programming smart controllers. There is a big role for manufacturers and distributors to educate installers, and for installers to educate their customers.
The changes in irrigation technology are incremental, says Pat McIntyre, CEO of ET Water Systems, based in Novato, CA. The most changes are in self-contained weather-based systems, which are capable of adjusting themselves. An irrigation system can be read on any wireless device via the Internet, McIntyre says.
“Take out a smart phone and log into your computer to see what’s happening and make adjustments,” says McIntyre. Once a command has been sent, it will send back a confirmation and adjust the schedule accordingly.
The next big development is getting more people to adopt smart irrigation technologies says Alex Nathanson, corporate marketing brand manager with Rain Bird. “As we as a society become more aware of water shortages, people are coming to adopt the systems that appear to be difficult,” he says. Whether central or local, taking weather into consideration is currently the most advanced methodology. This means knowing how much water to put down and continually adjusting and shutting it off when it is raining, or adjusting to not water as much.
Rain Bird has a training academy and holds classes all over the world. It educates installers how to plan, design, and install irrigation systems, including central control systems. “The EPA WaterSense program has certified the academy,” says Nathanson. “Our selected installers are well educated, and some jurisdictions are now licensing installers, one of the problem areas in the industry.”
What Water Agencies Are Saying
San Antonio was ready for the extreme drought that hit the state of Texas in 2011. The city’s population has doubled since the mid 1980s–it is now at 1.3 million people–but water use has not; it has remained at the same level, says Nichols, manager of outdoor programs at San Antonio Water (SAWS). Between April and September 2011, 20,000 acre-feet of water were saved as a result of its conservation program. Historically, 3,000 acre-feet per year were saved through its direct conservation programming.
“We have a holistic approach to conservation–everybody can take part, residential and commercial customers alike,” says Nichols. In fact, only about 20% of SAWS customers irrigate. “We have found that people are smarter than smart controllers,” she says. It starts with selecting the right plant materials, what they need, and pruning at the right time.
San Antonio has had a rebate program for 20 years, but it has evolved from simple rebates to a combination of rebates and requirements. Residents are restricted to irrigating landscapes one day a week. The exception is hand watering and using drip irrigation within certain parameters. If there is runoff, the customer will get a citation.
Rebates, requirements, and education are the touchstones of SAWS’ conservation program, and the community supports this model, says Nichols. The original rebate program offered rebates for rain sensors attached to irrigation systems. Now these are required.
The latest rebate program is one-and-a-half-years old and is well received by the community, says Mark Peterson, project coordinator in SAWS’ conservation department. Seventy residents and 45 commercial customers are currently enrolled.
Peterson continues: “Controllers have to be micromanaged by contractors and landscapers. Installation and maintenance is the issue. Otherwise you have poorly installed irrigation systems. On large properties, managers use a central controller to better manage water usage.
For those who do want irrigation, they should go with drip irrigation, Nichols explains. “The closer people are to their landscape, the more money they save. We’ve found that how long a resident lives in his or her house is a big component of how much water they save.”
Education is an important component of SAWS’ conservation program. Marty Garcia, a senior conservation consultant, says he works with a lot of contractors and experienced landscapers to make sure they are educated. Department representatives make presentations at chambers of commerce, building engineer organizations and management companies where rebates for business owners are offered.
Qualifying for the conservation program begins with an application. Residents can receive incentives based on lot size, beginning at $250 and increasing to $400 if they install water saver landscapes according to a list of requirements, including limiting turf to less than 50% of the landscape. If a permanent irrigation system is installed, it must meet a separate set of requirements. All the requirements are listed on SAWS’ website under its conservation banner.
Other rebates for converting irrigation systems are available for both residential and commercial customers. A SAWS conservation consultant, such as Garcia, must meet with the customer and irrigation installer to approve the changes and follow the project. Rebates varying from $100 to $400 are available to residents for removal and capping or conversion of irrigation zones, based on landscaping.
Commercial customers may qualify for as much as $3,200 in rebates to help cover the cost of modifying current irrigation systems. Eligible conversions include removal and capping of zone valves due to landscaping changes, or converting a pop-up spray zone to drip system or bubblers.
Applicants must prove savings before they are awarded their full rebates. One-quarter of the rebate is posted to the customer’s account when it is awarded following inspection by a SAWS conservation consultant. “If you are consuming what we think you should over a year, we credit the remaining 75%,” says Peterson. Applicants’ accounts are also monitored, and the office sends e-mails regularly to report how he or she is doing to reduce water usage.
Codes Dictate Irrigation Design
The City of Santa Monica, CA, has one of the most progressive, yet stringent, irrigation programs in the country, using rebates and grants to encourage the installation of the new irrigation technologies. The city is responding to the ever-decreasing amounts of potable water available to southern California, primarily because of long-term droughts. It also has codes restricting the amount of runoff water getting into the sewer system and eventually into the ocean.
Russell Ackerman, water resource specialist with the city, says one of the cheapest ways to reduce water use and save money is to install Hunter’s MP Rotator nozzles, which fit on any type of sprayhead. He also recommends Rain Bird’s Retro 18 Kit, which converts sprayheads to a drip system and to reprogram controllers to cycle and soak schedules, which allows for greater penetration of water into the ground.
Other recommendations include reducing irrigation run times, irrigating only in the early morning hours, adjusting controller run times seasonally, avoiding overspray and runoff, and fixing leaking and broken sprinkler heads.
Even drip irrigation must be installed properly, Ackerman says. The city code requires that precipitation rates for nozzles and drip irrigation cannot exceed 0.75 gallons per minute. Since most major irrigation manufacturers have adopted the 0.75-gallon-per-minute precipitation rate, nozzles will meet this rate if they are installed properly, he says. He has also found that if drip irrigation tubes are installed less than 12 inches apart, excessive water will cause the ground cover to float up.
Ackerman says with weather-based controllers you need to know what the precipitation rate is and program it in. Otherwise, some controllers use default rates that are not right for some plants. “It is important to get all this right,” he says.
Bubblers are recommended for
irrigating trees, Ackerman says. Many arborists say trees need bubblers to water feeder roots, he says. The city requirement caps bubblers at 0.5 gallons per minute, appropriate for trees 24 inches in diameter and larger.
The city’s website offers detailed descriptions of its rebates and grants programs.
The city based its standards for green landscaping on the Irrigation Association “Turf and Landscape Irrigation Best Management Practices” (2010 edition). People installing nozzles or sprinkler systems without going through its application and inspection process are in violation of city codes, Ackerman says.
Incentive Contracts Pay Off
For those who are not familiar with Colorado climates it may come as a surprise that Denver lies in a moderate desert climate zone, receiving less than a quarter inch of rain annually. So it has an extensive and accelerated water conservation plan, which began in 2007. The goal is to reduce overall water use 22% by 2016.
Jeff Tejral, manager of water conservation at Denver Water, says, “We are at 20% of the goal. My goal is to exceed 22%. The hard part is finding new ways to save.” And everyone in the service area is targeted, he says.
Tejral says incentive contracts are big with the department. “We’re looking for more comprehensive ways to save. If a system is 40 years old, it needs to be updated.” An example would be to remove turf and replace it with low water alternatives.
“We want customers to see reductions long-term,” he says.
Denver Water is offering irrigation efficiency incentive contracts to homeowner/condo/townhome associations and commercial or industrial customers (single-family homeowners are not eligible). Water use must be reduced at least three acre-feet overall. Incentives are paid out over three years, based on $18.50 per 1,000 gallons of water saved, not to exceed 50% of the total project cost. A weather factor is applied to irrigation consumption each year to account for weather variations.
Schools and governments are also eligible with similar but more flexible contracts. Their in-house staffs usually do the work, while professional landscapers do the installation work for community associations and commercial customers.
Rebates are available to both residents and commercial customers with large irrigation systems. Residents wishing to retrofit rotary nozzles can receive $2 per nozzle and $100 for weather-based smart controllers with rain sensors. Commercial customers receive the same rebate for rotary nozzles with a minimum $20 purchase.
Rebates for weather-based smart controllers for commercial application equal 25% of purchase price. Qualifying models for both types of rebates are listed on Denver Water’s website.
Tejral says the department no longer offers rebates for rain sensors, because savings are too small, given that it rarely rains in Denver. While Denver Water recommends drip
irrigation, it does not need to incentivize them because of their low cost. He also says that subsurface irrigation systems work well, but savings are no greater than aboveground systems.
Tejral states that Denver Water offers audits, education, and outreach to large irrigation customers and recommends the Catch Can test recommended by the Irrigation Association. It is part of the irrigation audit that uses catch devices spaced throughout a landscape to measure distribution uniformity.
Conservation Still Important in Tennessee
Knoxville, TN, is in the Appalachia watershed and receives its plentiful supply of water from the Tennessee River. Irrigation installer Clint Allison, president of Rainscapes says the company’s goal is to be the good steward of the area’s natural water system and is committed to conservation, even though Knoxville has not had to deal with droughts. Conservation is a good marketing tool for the company, he says.
Rainscapes has been installing 125 to 150 irrigation systems a year since it started up in 1996. Allison says he is most excited about the weather-based smart controllers that track local weather conditions. The company has installed about 100 in the past five seasons.
“It takes the homeowner out of daily adjustments and takes guessing out of what the landscape needs,” he says, adding that the Rain Bird ESP model with 13 zones is doing a great job in residential applications. He has also installed Hunter’s SOLAR SYNC and TORO’s products.
On the commercial side, the company is experimenting with the Rain Bird ESP LXD with remote monitoring and onsite weather stations at a sports park with four softball fields, six multi-use fields, and common-use areas. From its shop, the company is also monitoring a large residential project several acres in size that has an onsite weather station and smart controller.
Many in his client base are comfortable with the older, non-smart, controller systems and will usually stick with that system when Allison recommends the new smart controller.
He explains it takes some customers several years before they take to the new system. “We were very cautious in the beginning and in the first year installed just one smart controller,” he says. There is a fair amount of programming in the installation process, but operationally, the smart controller is very simple.
“The manufacturers tell us the smart controllers will reduce water use 40%,” adds Allison, but he is reluctant to tell customers that, because Rainscapes doesn’t know how the buyer uses its system. But, he says, a good 85% of the company’s customer base will benefit. The average cost of a smart controller averages about $500 versus an old-style controller system that costs about $250, and will pay for itself within a year, he says.
Out of the 10 water agencies in the area, Rainscapes works with the one agency that has a conservation program. The Knoxville Utility Board (KUB), which supplies both water and electricity, does not have a rebate program and, instead, focuses on educating its 77,600 water customers.
Keri Brill, an environmental management analyst with KUB, says, “We are lucky to have the quantity and quality of water we do have.” But still, KUB customers are interested in saving it, she adds.
KUB offers conservation workshops, water savings kits for indoor uses and runs ads in the local newspapers encouraging readers to “Go Green.” It also staffs booths at local festivals like “Earth Day.” It is an EPA WaterSense partner and provides the “Water Wisely” fact sheet to customers.
Jason Meridieth, a KUB media specialist, says it has a secondary water meter program that diverts residential irrigation water from the city’s wastewater plant. “If water is not going through the waste water system, we save on not treating it,” he explains.
While there are a lot of irrigation systems in KUB’s service area, Meridieth says many customers don’t have a clue as to how their irrigation systems work. They are scared to even touch them and leave the responsibility to irrigation companies like Rainscapes. Meridieth adds that it would be more positive for irrigation companies to educate customers about water costs, reflecting back on San Antonio Water’s emphasis on customer education.