Most of the time, the future is closer than it appears to be, as is the case with irrigation system technology.
Future product design concepts – some being implemented and discussed now – are completely viable, meaning that the products of the future will be available, according to irrigation manufacturers and contractors, within the next five years instead of the next five to 10 years.
Many factors are driving these design changes, particularly water conservation and irrigation limitations, and the ultimate future result will be a smarter irrigation system.
DRIVING DESIGN CHANGES. As the federal government demonstrates a greater commitment to environmental issues, contractors are being asked to do more with less water.
"Because landscape irrigation is a very visible user of large quantities of water," according to John Ossa, business development, Jensen Landscape Services, Cupertino, Calif., and chairman of the Irrigation Association Water Management Committee, "members of the green industry will either learn to be more efficient irrigators or face punitive water use restrictions."
While the Sunbelt states will always have a greater need for irrigation vs. those in the Midwest and North, all irrigation systems will have to become more efficient, Ossa said.
"In California, for example, much of the most populated areas are located in a true Mediterranean climate, meaning there is no summer rain," Ossa explained. "This, combined with high property values in these areas, puts a premium on efficient irrigation systems and management."
"The focus in the West and South should be on recycling and conserving water rather than building new power plants and water treatment plants," pointed out Dirk Lenie, director of marketing sales for residential, commercial and government irrigation, Toro Irrigation, Riverside, Calif. "This is an important part of irrigation management as there will be continued pressure on keeping government budgets down, meaning less construction of water treatment plants and the greater the need for conservation and efficient use or use of alternative sources. And, based on the infrastructure in the East, irrigation needs to be more efficient with regard to pressure and application."
Irrigation limitations alone won’t be able to aid in water conservation without good irrigation management, Lenie said.
"Just because legislation attempts to make water use more inconvenient doesn’t mean it’s making the system more efficient," Lenie explained. "Having legislation doesn’t always mean that good irrigation practices will be used, especially if there is not more focus on customer education starting with those who develop the laws."
| Salt In The Wound |
| Irrigation limitations will become more restrictive in the future, especially in California and Florida, due to good irrigation water being polluted by seawater, claimed John Ossa, business development, Jensen Landscape Services, Cupertino, Calif., and chairman of the Irrigation Association Water Management Committee.
"This is happening because people are pumping in water for irrigation from underwater lakes and as the pressure on those cavities increase, sea water located 1 to 2 miles away moves toward the area," Ossa explained. "Salinas, Calif., near Monterrey, is the vegetable capital of the world and is located several miles inland. Yet, the seawater has worked its way very close to the farmers’ crops. Soon, farmers may be pumping seawater into their crops, killing them. This will continue to result in the greater restriction of water use, especially as the Sun-belt states grow in population. In most areas already, the water supply is finite." A current strategy being implemented to eliminate this problem, according to Ossa, is something called groundwater recharge, or the pumping of treated water back into the acquifer. "Another suggestion in a case like this is to bring water in from outside areas to help alle-viate the problem," added Dirk Lenie, director of marketing sales for residential, commercial and government irrigation, Toro Irrigation, Riverside, Calif. – Nicole Wisniewski |
THE SMART SYSTEM. According to Lenie, the smart system, a concept that has been discussed for years, still has many possibilities – most of them focusing on more efficient irrigation.
"Maybe the controller will talk to the sprinklers individually instead of all at once giving them all something different to do," Lenie explained. "Or maybe sprinklers will be told to irrigate in a half-circle today and then in a full circle tomorrow. Maybe sprinklers will be tied to a soil moisture sensor and react based on input from the sensor."
Sensors will play a key role in the future of the smart irrigation system, as will satellites and computers (especially in larger systems), wireless communication and wireless irrigation, pointed out Brian Vinchesi, design engineer, Irrigation Consulting & Engineering, Pepperell, Mass.
"It would be nice if someone could design a sensor or combination of sensors to measure soil moisture or rain," Ossa said. "Sensors are available now, but people don’t have confidence in them. The threshold of trust hasn’t been crossed with sensors yet because they are still so new. But a better combination of sensors takes the decision making out of a person’s hands and lets the controller modify changes."
Irrigation application hardware will become more efficient in the future, Ossa pointed out.
"Presently, manufacturers talk in terms of matched precipitation rate, but the reality for spray heads is that they are matched in terms of flow rate, not precipitation," Ossa explained. "Spray heads in the future will have improved irrigation profiles, which will enable matched precipitation rates. Also, there will be an increasing reliance on secondary water supplies, which may dictate some changes in hardware components, meaning sprinkler heads will be constructed to withstand a lesser grade of water."
A smart system may also mean implementing more types of system components that have already entered the market with some success. For example, sprinklers with infinite trajectory adjustment make the sprinkler better able to handle wind and withstand slopes, Lenie said, adding that products of the future will be built at a higher quality and will last longer than products of today.
There will also be greater uniformity of sprinkler heads, resulting in a system that wastes less water and distributes it better, Vinchesi suggested.
"In less than five years, there may even be no sprinklers at all once subsurface irrigation, an irrigation system that will send water directly to the soil, comes into play," he added.
Smarter controllers can also better a smart system. One of the main problems with controllers, according to Ossa, is that they are programmed in minutes and hours.
"Crop need and consumptive use is expressed in inches of water or acres per feet," Ossa explained. "But what does that mean in minutes? I think controllers will change the most over the years. They will become more user-friendly – do more technical things as well as become simpler to use."
ADDING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY. Ossa assumes computers will play a greater role in irrigation systems of the future.
"Computers play a big role in irrigation systems now, especially in large, central systems, which have multiple systems linked via modem to a central computer," he pointed out. "This type of system gives the operator the ability to check the whole city’s parks and conduct a remote shut down of all controllers due to weather changes."
However, even though computers are already an important tool for golf courses and some large commercial and municipal sites, Lenie believes that the commercial market remains far behind the golf market as far as innovative irrigation design is concerned, and residential irrigation develop
ment is behind commercial irrigation development. Vinchesi doesn’t expect computers to play an increased role in smaller commercial or residential irrigation systems for another five to 10 years.
The keys to a computer irrigation system, according to Lenie, will be the user interface, ease of use (possibly a completely automatic system) and cost.
"The water/energy savings of home management computer systems will need to offset the costs," Lenie stated.
"Maybe the management of this type of system is done offsite and information is fed into a black box at a subscriber’s home," Lenie enthused. "Maybe users will be able to go into a web central location and find out how much irrigation they need. Global Positioning System technology will also come more and more into play."
Computer technology will also have an affect on the way irrigation systems are serviced, Lenie said.
"As new technology is used more and more, new skills will be required," he commented. "Also, technology offers the opportunity of doing remote trouble shooting and the possible sending of visual ‘How to Fix’ e-mail over the web."
GOING WIRELESS. The most desired element of future irrigation systems would have to be the elimination of wire in irrigation valves, according to Ossa.
"Currently, valves use solenoids with two pieces of wire in each one that go back to the controller," Ossa described. "This is a problem when adding valves, especially if they are located far away from the controller where wire and power are unreachable."
Since all valves require two wires – a common wire and a power wire – Lenie said there are many possibilities for a wireless irrigation future.
"The future may be stand-alone, battery-powered valves," Lenie remarked. "And if we could eliminate the communication wire to the control system, communication may become possible via cell phone, phone line or radio. And different types of frequencies can be used to help prevent interference."
The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
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