CAI-NJ Apr. 2022

By Gaetano Virone, CID, CIC, CLIA, CLWCM, Certified Back Flow Inspector & Repairer, President Environmental Designers Irrigation, Inc. Revamping Antiquated IRRIGATIONS SYSTEMS and Upgrading to SMART Irrigation Systems

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R evamping an antiquated irrigation system is a key step in saving water and money. Irrigation technolo gy, not only in products but also in techniques and industry standards, has changed quite a bit over the past years. Revamping your existing system is usually less expen sive than installing an entirely new system, with the added benefits of upgrading heads, valves, controllers, and sen sors with the existing pipe that is already run and in place, to irrigate more efficiently and cost-effectively. There are many new products, including high-efficiency technologies and pressure regulating nozzles, that will save on water usage, reduce repairs, and emergency calls. A SMART Irrigation system starts with a SMART Irrigation Controller and, depending on how smart it is, it can also have sensors, water meters, and high-efficiency sprinkler heads and nozzles. The SMART Irrigation Controller con nects to the internet and utilizes weather data to reprogram itself based on the historical, current, and forecasted weath er conditions. As a result, the irrigation system applies the correct amount of water while cutting back on the amount of water you use each month.

The computerized SMART controller helps you manage all kinds of irrigation issues that would typically take a lot of time to work out manually. For example, suppose there is suddenly a lot of rainfall. In that case, the SMART controller will stop typical irrigation cycles automatically until it needs to resume watering. Another example would be a water main line break. If a water meter is installed, a SMART system can include flow sensing that automatically shuts down the system when there is a substantial water flow above normal. This will shut down the controller until a repair crew fixes the problem and releases the alarm so that it can again begin irrigating. This SMART technology offers the following benefits: • It calculates how much water to apply to an area so as to provide the correct amount of water depending on conditions • It can also collect data about local area weather conditions • It can adjust water requirements accordingly • It can shut down a system for a break to mitigate dam ages from flooding and reduce wasted water

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