During times of drought, many areas around the country face water restrictions. California has been hit with mandatory restrictions, including water use reductions. And other parts of the country, including the Southwest, Midwest and Southeast, have also had watering restrictions, and could again. Luckily, there are a lot of options to help conserve water, and Ewing has the solutions you can use to comply with restrictions while keeping your landscapes looking good.
Baseline makes it easy to comply with water restrictions seen around the country. With controllers, soil moisture sensors and flow sensors, Baseline can help reduce runoff and manage an irrigation schedule.
Restricting Watering Days
Baseline irrigation controllers are easily programmed to accommodate watering day restrictions. You can set the irrigation system to run on certain days—odd, even, or specific days of the week—and during certain hours of the day. This allows you total control over the water schedule, and allows you to close the water window during restricted hours
Reduced Water Use
Baseline soil moisture sensors measure the soil moisture content where it matters—in the root zone of the soil profile. Once the sensor measures the soil moisture, it sends that information to your Baseline controller, which then uses that information to determine when to water (and for how long). When the soil has absorbed sufficient water, the sensor will tell the controller it’s time to shut off.
A flow sensor also allows you to monitor water usage. A flow sensor can detect unscheduled flow or inappropriate rates of flow to identify leaks, broken sprinklers or stuck valves. Combining a Baseline controller with flow sensor technology allows you to monitor flow rates, and even program the controller to react to flow-related incidents.
Preventing Runoff and Wasted Water
The soil profile is only able to hold so much moisture before it creates runoff and begins to waste water. If you water too much or create runoff, you may face fines or penalties in some areas.
Utilizing Soil Moisture Sensors, the Baseline system knows how much to irrigate, and when to stop. The sensors, along with the ability to set multiple start times on available water days, will work together to maintain the desired moisture content in the soil without unnecessarily over filling the soil profile to create wasteful runoff.
When facing mandatory rain restrictions, Baseline controllers are able to interface with any rain pause device connected to the controller, and have the added benefit of extending the pause with a soil moisture sensor, ensuring you don’t waste water after a rain event.
Baseline controllers work well with large sites, parks, universities and school districts. The WaterTec S100 soil moisture sensor is a great solution that can help reduce water use. To learn more about using a Baseline controller to manage your landscapes in water-restricted areas, stop by your local Ewing branch.