Sprinklers With a Brain

Monday, July 19, 2004

By: Earl Scott

System reads moisture turns on when thirsty

As the drought lingers into its sixth year, Cache Valley residents notice with some irritation when a sprinkler system is running during a rainstorm.

Bur thanks to an irrigation system developed by Logan-based Irrisoft, Inc., a subsidiary of Campbell Scientific, that's happening less often.

Irrisoft's Weather Reach irrigation system waters the landscape only when needed, according to Irrisoft President Steven Moore, inventor of the system. If there is already enough moisture in the ground, the system doesn't water.

"The system receives input from a weather station that tells the monitor how much moisture has evaporated from the soil," Moore said. "If the soil has lost a half inch of water, then we need to put a half inch back. What we have eliminated is the decision about when to water and preset watering times. This is not some little homegrown project that came from the back of a garage. This is the next generation of landscape irrigation.

The weather station measures heat, wind, rainfall, and temperature to decide when and how much water to put down, Moore said. The system can save anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of irrigation water.

Weather Reach is completely automatic, eliminating the need for daily watering and monitoring, Moore said. The system has been around about two years and is being used in 10 states.

The Logan Parks and Recreation Department, Utah State University, and various residences and businesses in Cache Valley use the system.

"It (Weather Reach) waters about half as much as the other systems we have around the campus, and the areas of the university where we are using this system are some of the healthiest we have," said USU Irrigation Supervisor Kim Cronquest. "We don't have to come up and make adjustments to the timer after a rainstorm ... which saves money in leg work, and we don't have to adjust our water budget up and down."

The monitor at the USU Innovation Campus had irrigated the landscape 11 times since the beginning of May, Moore said. And with recent rain it probably won't need to be watered again for a few more days.

The system is cost effective, said Irrisoft Marketing Director Shaw Merrill. In most cases, the water savings will pay for the cost of the unit in one or two years, depending on the size of the property and the amount of water used.

The Logan Parks and Recreation Department currently has two of the Weather Reach monitors controlling irrigation. While the system hasn't been installed long enough to allow a savings comparison, the positive results have been noticeable. Two more monitors have been purchased and will be installed in the next two weeks, with plans to add more in the future, said Logan Parks and Recreation Director Russ Akina.

"We've had very good results so far," Akina said. "This system is really growing in popularity, because it really saves a lot of water, and anytime there is a way to save on water, we have to do it."

Moore has a background in landscape irrigation working with high-end golf course systems that he felt were effective and efficient. But with drought conditions continuing to get worse each year, he believed he could make technological improvements.

"I felt there had to be a way to bring this to the masses, and this is what I came up with," Moore said. What's nice about the system is that you don't have to change your existing sprinkler system. We just hook one of our monitors onto your timer, and you're set...In most cases, it takes about 15 minutes to hook up."

About 50 percent of the sales of the system to date have been to residential users, which was a little surprising, Moore said. He believed government entities and businesses would be the best customers.

For more information about the Weather Reach irrigation system, visit www.weatherreach.com.