NatureScape Irrigation Service’s ‘Smart’ Irrigation Technology Deployment Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The NIS’s ‘Smart’ Irrigation Technology Deployment Program (SITDP) was established to spur the use of ‘Smart’ control devices on municipality-owned irrigation systems in Broward County. Urban irrigation water use totals 150 million gallons per day in the County. While efficient irrigation provides many benefits to urban environments, inefficient irrigation poses threats to surface water and wetland water quality, and to the security of drinking water wellfields from aquifer depletion and saltwater intrusion. Broward County’s NatureScape Irrigation Service (NIS) strives to reduce urban water consumption and improve surface water quality through efficient irrigation and environmentally-friendly landscape practices. The NIS conducts evaluations of large existing irrigation systems within its 20 municipal partner service areas to identify ways to reduce waste and improve efficiency. Though ‘Smart’ irrigation control devices have been shown to reduce irrigation water use from 25% to 45%, their adoption among public sector irrigation professionals has been slow. The NIS identifies sites where ‘Smart’ irrigation device use is practical and compatible with the existing irrigation systems. The NIS procures the devices and distributes them to their partner contacts. Field staff at the municipalities are responsible for the initial installation and maintenance of the devices. To promote the SIDTP and educate municipal irrigation staff on the use of ‘Smart’ devices, the NIS produced and hosted three workshop events, which collectively drew 120 municipal irrigation professionals. The first phase of the SITDP (2015) successfully deployed 72 devices, accounting for 29.3 million gallons per year (31%) in water savings. The scope of the current phase of the SITDP (2016-2018) is to deploy devices at 106 sites. In 2016, 63 eligible sites were identified, with 36 being outfitted as of March 2017. The SITDP is funded, in part, via a cost-share grant awarded to Broward County by the South Florida Water Management District.