CREJ

April 2017 — Property Management Quarterly —

Page 21

www.crej.com

audits and assessments should be

given serious review. There almost

always are opportunities for phased-

in improvements. Realized savings

from initial phase improvements

may become the revenue source to

fund additional improvements.

•

Scheduling (weather-based irriga-

tion controllers).

Proper irrigation

scheduling is the single-largest con-

tributor to the reduction of water

waste in the landscape. Watering

schedules must be adjusted fre-

quently in response to changing

weather conditions and changes in

any given plant’s water requirement

to reduce waste.

Combined with proper manage-

ment, weather-based irrigation con-

trollers become the most effective

tool for reducing water waste and

improving plant health and visual

appeal. Most weather-based control-

lers combine horticulture science

and real-time weather data to auto-

mate the process of calculating and

adjusting irrigation schedules. It’s

a process of taking guesswork out

of irrigation scheduling and putting

sound science to work. Remote man-

agement typically can be enabled via

connected devices to deliver even

greater flexibility and efficiency.

•

Maintenance.

Once an irrigation

system is operating in an efficient

manner, ongoing maintenance is the

key to keeping the system operat-

ing at peak performance. Frequent

inspection of all components in

operation is the cornerstone of

effective maintenance. Line leaks,

sprinkler-head failures and other

water-wasting conditions should be

discovered quickly and corrected in

a timely and cost-effective manner.

In those situations, where conven-

tional controllers are still in use,

frequent site visits are necessary to

keep controller schedules properly

adjusted.

•

Sustainable results.

Efficient

technologies, coupled with sound

irrigation management practices,

can produce 20, 30 or 40 percent

reduction in landscape water use on

many sites.

“It is evident that an ET, weather-

based controller, with proper man-

agement, can have a great impact

on applied irrigation throughout

the growing season,” according to

a conservation manager from the

two-year 2015/2016 Aurora ET Con-

troller Pilot Study. “While the addi-

tion of higher-efficiency heads and

nozzles give an additional benefit, it

has much lower impact than sound

water management practices.”

ET, or evapotranspiration, is the

sum of the water used by a plant

(transpiration) and water lost due to

evaporation, so the ET value is the

amount of water that needs to be

replaced to sustain healthy and visu-

ally acceptable plant material. This

science is used to determine irriga-

tion schedules.

Over the last eight years, Denver

Water has made significant progress

through its “Use only what you need”

campaign. Now, Denver Water is

customizing water budgets based on

irrigated area for its largest commer-

cial customers. Water budgets allow

both Denver Water and its customers

to know exactly “what they need,”

according to the Colorado Water

Plan, published December 2015.

ET Irrigation

After implementing a new irrigation plan, the Orchards was able to efficiently use water and come in under the irrigation water budget.

ET Irrigation

Maintenance

The Orchards' Irrigation

Budget