Can building irrigation systems be wasting water?
More than two trillion gallons of water are still lost every year, and a significant portion of this loss comes from undetected leaks caused by irrigation systems.
Common signs of an undiscovered leak include a surprising increase in water usage – even though water use routines haven’t changed – and an equal increase in water costs. There may also be intervals of low water pressure, according to conservation form WaterSignal.
There are ways to tame high water bills. If they are the result of changing water use dynamics, property owners and managers can:
● Water less often but longer. This encourages deeper plant roots and increases soil moisture, albeit at deeper levels.
● Use native or indigenous plants, and xeriscaping, to create a landscape that is both beautiful and less water intensive.
● Install sensors to shut off irrigation systems if it starts raining.
● Modify sprinkler patterns to match the lawn, garden, or decorative shrubs, and eliminate watering the driveway, parking or pavement.
● Raise sprinkler heads that are blocked by shrubs or other foliage.
● Install systems to monitor leaks and usage in real time.
Companies like WaterSignal offer users easy-to-use centralized dashboards of current water consumption across all locations, no matter how geographically separate.
The technology can highlight a property’s domestic and irrigation usage in a calendar format, with updates noting the type of loss/leak at the top of each day/date and all irrigation usage will be displayed as green instead of blue on graphs, to help distinguish between domestic and irrigation operations.
Topics: Automation and Controls, Building Owners and Managers, Construction Firms, Energy Saving Products, Engineering Firms, Environmental Firms, Exteriors, Great Commercial Buildings, Landscaping Architecture - Design & Maintenance, Office Buildings, Sustainable Communities, Water Saving Strategies and Devices