Smart Irrigation Month

July is Smart Irrigation Month.
Here in Springfield, MO we have had a mayoral proclamation designating it as such for the last 3 years. I am trying to get venues to make presentations concerning smart irrigation. I think that the one thing that property owners can do that wouldn't require a lot of work (digging) is to install a rain or soil moisture sensor. Many of the systems that I have worked on this spring have no sensor installed. Some of the owners are the type to say that they keep their system off until they determine that it needs to run. I wonder how many times they forget that the system is on and it runs more often than they want. Just like turning on the hose-end sprinkler and forgetting it is on until bedtime, or the next morning...
City Utilities offers a $25.00 rebate on any rain sensor installed on an existing sprinkler system that they supply. Sensors should be an integral part of all controllers.
I have also discovered that there are areas of town that have extremely high water pressure. There is a point where more is not better. Fogging and misting of sprayheads wastes a lot of water. High pressures are hard on the backflow preventers and fixtures inside the house, too. Valves in toilets, dishwashers, and clothes washers, are not designed for 100+ psi. Water hammer causes the pipes to rattle loose in the walls and will wake you up early in the morning. Pressure regulators are not that hard to install.
Two items that don't require much work to implement. The cost savings of each will pay for themselves in a very short period of time.
My questions to Sprinkler Guys are "How do I convince you that is is in your best interests to look at these improvements to your systems?" and "How much money does the builder save by not having you install a rain sensor?" Is it the difference between you getting the job or losing it to another Sprinkler Guy?
Maybe you should become an Irrigation Professional and tell the builder that your systems are better than the systems installed by Sprinkler Guys.

Where has the time gone?

It is close to the end of April. Time for me to rant about something.
We are 3 inches behind normal rainfall so far this year. I think it is going to create a boom for the service guys who had little to do last year. My phone has been ringing steadily the last 2 weeks. Most of the calls are for start-ups and most of them also have add-ons or extra service work that needs to be done. I'm still not optimistic about the future, but I've quit holding my breath. It might turn into a good year.

Simple Savings

I can't understand why people would not want a rain sensor on their sprinkler system. Could it be the initial cost of the sensor?
Nothing wastes water more than watering turf when it is raining. Most rain sensors can recoup their cost in the first year of operation. The sprinkler guys who don't install them are doing a great disservice to their customers and the irrigation industy as a whole. Some local municipalities are forcing the residents to save money by passing legislation requiring rain sensors. Do we really need that? Why can't the sprinkler guys just include them in their price? Here again, the problem seems to be the builders. If it costs them an extra $75 to include a rain sensor, they won't spend the money, which is a great disservice to the home buyer.
Maybe the answer is with the manufacturers who make the controllers. They should include the sensor with each controller and make the controller dependent on the sensor to work.

Why is landscaping the devil?

Turf and landscape irrigation gets a lot of bad press. It seems to be an easy target. Environmentalists vilify property owners who have beautiful landscapes as evil wasters of our natural resources. I admit there are many property owners who waste water while they are watering their landscapes. That is why I am in business. Inefficient watering has to be eliminated, but that does not mean that all watering needs to be stopped. Plants need water to survive. Efficient watering can cause them to thrive.
There are benefits to having a good lawn. A good lawn can help cool the area around a building. Lawns trap pollutants and filter dirt and dust from the air. Lawns convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. They also help reduce noise in urban areas. Watering the lawn is not wasting water.
The problem before us is getting rid of sloppy waterers. Property owners who do not have rain sensors are the easiest wasters to spot. It is unbelievable to me that there are people stupid enough to water while it is raining, however there is a bank a few blocks from my house that I have seen watering in the rain. If they aren't good stewards of our resources, are they good stewards of my money?

Shaping our Water Future (Day 2)

The second day of the water conference was eye-opening for me. Starting with the conservation presentation by the Greene County Administrator who stated that "the top ten water wasters are 1) Irrigation, 2) Irrigation, 3) Irrigation, 4) Irrigation, 5) Irrigation, 6) Irrigation, 7) Irrigation, 8) Irrigation, 9) Irrigation, and 10) Irrigation. We need to stop all watering and return the turf and landscape to native plants". I've heard all this before, but now I was in a room full of believers and it didn't seem that anyone wanted to talk about reality. I agree that there are a lot of landscape waterers who waste water, however I don't believe that they can completely stop everyone from watering. They focus on the automatic irrigation systems because they can have some control over them, but miss the point that they are more efficient than hose-end watering.
I was also surprised to hear the president of City Utilities say that their goal was to raise water rates on the water used for irrigation. I would think that there are other water-wasters that would be higher on the list. Car washes and swimming pools add chemicals to the water and then run it down the drain creating a demand on our treatment plants, but water that sustains plants that put oxygen into our air is viewed as a waste.

Shaping Our Water Future (Day 1)

I just returned to my office after attending a 2-day conference titled "Shaping Our Water Future. Working to ensure adequate, quality water supplies" put on by MSU and the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition.
The first half of the first day was spent telling us all about the problems of possible future water shortages. We talked about the aquifer under the southwest Missouri region and where the water is. We were also informed about how to create water planning groups. The rest of the day was spent talking about ways to create more water supplies by increasing storage. We talked about damming some of the area streams to create more storage. Injecting treated water into the aquifer was also discussed. The Tri-state Coalition is talking to the Corps of Engineers about getting water from Tablerock Lake or Grand Lake of the Cherokees. the biggest problems with increasing storage is the time from the start of the process to the finish. It could realistically take 20 years from the start to get to the end of the project.
I think it took some "voodoo economics" to come up with the numbers that we were given in regards to our future (projected) shortages. IF we have a drought, IF City Utilities sells water to surrounding communities, IF there is no conservation; THEN we will need an additional 129 million gallons per day. Last week CU averaged around 33 mgd delivered.
Currently our water storage facilities are at 87% of their capacity. The 10-year average is 80%.
It is going to be interesting to see what the crystal ball says about our water usage in 20 years.
Tomorrow: Conservation!

City Utility Water Rates

Next month City Utilities will raise our water rates by another 3%. Last night I witnessed 5 people speak out in favor of another round of rate increases to the city council. If approved by the city council in two weeks, we will have another round of 3 annual rate increases of 8% starting in October of 2010. According to CU this will result in an average increase of $1.93 per month for residential users in Springfield each year. 3 of these people were with the Watershed Comittee of the Ozarks, who will, once again, receive their funding from CU if the rate increase is passed.
I don't understand why CU is projecting less water usage for next year than we used this year. Maybe it is because we now have a local irrigation consultant who can show people how to reduce their water usage for turf and landscape applications. This has been a very wet summer this year, and those of us smart enough to be using rain sensors have used very little water for turf irrigation.
Revenue from the increases is expected to generate $7.5 million by 2013 for the water utility with revenues being used for daily infrastructure improvements and repairs.