Worthington Glen

drip-irrigation water-auditing

In December of 2010, Nolan Plumbing and Irrigation was hired by the HOA of Worthington Glen Community in Mandarin to upgrade the sprinkler system at the entrance of their neighborhood. From January through November of 2010, the HOA was billed for 170,000 gallons of irrigation water and charged $630.43. The existing system was designed with conventional spray heads and rotor heads.

Let’s use their numbers for a demonstration. Thirty-nine percent of 170,000 gallons would be 103,700 gallons. At the time the irrigation billing rate was $0.0037 per gallon. 103,700 multiplied by $0.0037 equal $383.69. $383.69 from $630.43 is $246.74. Significant savings.

Prior to making the upgrades we ran the system through a two minute test cycle. We calculated the amount of water used to be 144 gallons.

The traditional sprinkler system was responsible for wetting most of the road at the entrance to the subdivision. The lawn sprinklers were also causing damage to the entrance sign from consistently getting wet. We revamped the system as to not spray water into the street. We also installed drip line in all the landscape beds as to not wet the sign. When the upgrades were finished no water was wetting the street and the sign was completely dry. One of the side effects of the upgrades was that the lawn sprinkler system used 40% less water lowering the utility bill.