Water Without Waste

North Logan company monitors the weather, and your sprinkler system

Tue, September 21, 2004

By: EMILIE Holmes
Standard-Examiner corespondent

NORTH LOGAN - After more than 25 years of watching people waste water, Steven Moore decided to do something about it, even if it were to affect only a few people.

Moore, the president of Irrisoft, a Campbell Scientific company based in North Logan, put Weather Reach on the market about two years ago. Since then, the system has been implemented in residential and commercial areas in 10 states and is quickly expanding.

Weather Reach is an irrigation control system that, simply put, conserves water.

"Everybody loves a beautiful landscape and everybody loves to conserve water," Moore said.

So, after three years of research, Moore and his team developed a small machine called the Weather Reach Receiver. It collects data from regional weather stations and calculates how much sprinkler water the landscape needs, then adjusts the system accordingly. The data is collected on the hour and in real time.

In two years, more than 1,000 of the receivers have been installed across the country, Irrisoft marketing director Shaw Merrill said, including in some Logan and Orem city parks, Balmoral Town Homes in Salt Lake City and numerous golf courses and residences.

Russ Akina, director of Parks and Recreation in Logan, said the city installed Weather Reach Receivers in two parks last year.

"It allows us to use Mother Nature to irrigate," he said.

In addition to saving water money, Akina said, the city is paying less in maintenance costs for having to reset the system every time it rains.

Merrill said the Weather Reach idea isn't a new concept, but Irrisoft has made it accessible and less expensive for the average person.

"It just brings it down to a level where you and I can take advantage of it," he said.

Previously, if a golf course or homeowner wanted a similar system, an entire weather station would have to be installed, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Irrisoft uses Campbell Scientific's 16 regional weather stations to relay data to individual receivers, cutting out the initial cost.

Merrill said Weather Reach saves between 20 and 50 percent of the money normally spent on irrigation.

The cost of a receiver is between $400 and $600 through Irrisoft distributors.

For more information about Irrisoft's Weather Reach Receivers, call (435) 755-0400 or visit www.weatherreach.com