Simplify Water Conservation with Smart Sprinkler Controllers
Savvy Smart Sprinkler Controllers for Optimal Water Management
Escaping the sweltering Texas sun and hydrating in cool corners is certainly simpler for us humans than for our surrounding wildlife and landscapes. With our unpredictable summers, practicing responsible water management early is crucial for preserving our ecosystems and our water supply. At Bonick, we try to educate our clients on the importance of sustainable practices and we exercise them in our daily routines. Sometimes artificial intelligence makes automating these processes easier, and one of the ways we like to address water conservation these days is through automatic watering and smart sprinkler controllers. Learn more about how we utilize this technology to optimize our clients’ systems, and the pros and cons and best practices for these automated water conservation systems.
Practicing Water Conservation
Between extreme temperatures, severe storms, and drought, climate change is here to stay, but there are ways we can adapt by adjusting our daily habits. Developing responsible water conservation practices now helps to minimize the damaging effects on our environment. Turning the water off while we brush our teeth, shortening our showers, and watering on city-mandated days are little changes each of us can enact that make a big impact. On a broader scale, developing a drought-tolerant landscape, maintaining our sprinkler systems, and automating our watering processes are major keys to responsible water management. However, like any other artificial intelligence application, smart sprinkler controllers are only as adept as their operators.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence
From Alexa and Siri to Sonos, Grammarly, and Chat GPT, chances are, you’ve utilized AI. Although daunting to some, artificial intelligence is one of today’s most buzzed-about tech terms. Readily available to assist us in nearly every industry, AI is utilized to help us answer our child’s nagging “Why?” questions, write clever copy, program lights and music, manage our stock portfolios, automate assembly lines, and even conduct surgeries. But, how many times have you asked your smart device a question only to get a completely irrelevant answer?
Like humans, automated systems also have their advantages and disadvantages. They can improve our lives by eliminating human error, automating repetitive tasks, and operating consistently while we’re sleeping. However, they lack critical thinking and reasoning and are prone to occasional technical malfunctions. So, while artificial intelligence can be supremely helpful, it still requires human fine-tuning and monitoring. That’s where we come in. Our knowledgeable maintenance staff has taken the time to educate ourselves on smart sprinkler controller technology and the various options available.
Water Conservation with Weathermatic®
While several companies offer similar products, we are advocates for Weathermatic.® This company has tripled down on making automation easy and deployable to the masses in the green industry. Because they are designed for professionals like us, they offer the ability to remotely access multiple sites at one time. This is a huge advantage in the case of customer emergencies or during the height of the summer heat, as this system gives us the ability to monitor, troubleshoot, and even perform global turn-offs and turn-ons.
Weathermatic’s unique smart system automates watering and helps save our clients up to 25% in monthly water usage. Plus, this compassionate company embodies values we stand behind. They donate a portion of their profits to provide clean water for communities in need and have saved over 300,000 lives by building 100 wells to date.
How it Works
Weathermatic’s cloud-based software relies upon its secure, cellular SmartLink technology. Its sensors make automatic, weather-based adjustments to your watering schedule. With on-site controller hardware, it’s capable of relaying custom settings and programs that control sprinkler zones and schedules. Access comprehensive reports or adjust your system from the convenience of your smartphone, tablet, or computer (or allow us to handle that for you).
Our Assessment of the SmartLink Tool
When properly set up, this SmartLink system helps calculate the amount of water necessary for all areas of the landscape to save water. It’s an excellent tool we employ to help improve water management for the landscape. But, because it’s a tool, it requires human management. It’s important to note that these systems take several months of adjusting from season to season in order to work effectively. A lot of our customers will experience high bills in the hot months and think that it’s not working. However, it’s designed to water more during the hot months and the true savings are evidenced in the winter months, where its daily adjustments have the capability to dial the water back more than human-operated watering.
One thing that this automated system brings to light is imperfections in the physical sprinkler system itself. No sprinkler system is perfect—water delivery overlaps spray heads as required and occasionally plant material, wind, and other things can obstruct the flow, creating dry areas. This tool helps us to spot more of these issues and identify where improvements can be made.
We also really like the inspection tool within the system that allows us to take pictures by zones to create an accurate, detailed inspection report and an estimated cost of repair. This feature provides us with quicker client approval to get systems up and running faster and ensure your landscape is always in optimal condition.
A Comprehensive Water Management Approach
Any smart sprinkler controller will show the weaknesses of poorly designed systems. So, before relying solely upon AI for water conservation, it’s important to address some foundational principles. By performing some preliminary work to ensure that the overall water management plan is optimal, the automatic sprinkler controller can operate at its peak.
Maintaining a good layer of mulch helps hold in moisture and keep the soil from drying out from wind, erosion, and mechanical blowing by preventing plant roots from being exposed. Planting for shade and sun, types of plant materials used, weather, and employing these best practices will ensure your smart controller’s best possible performance:
- Hydrozoning: Group plants with similar water requirements.
- Mulching: Add mulch to garden beds at least 1x/year to help retain water.
- Maintenance: Keep your irrigation system up to date with regular maintenance.
In conclusion, Glenn Bonick confirms that the trick to a successful water management plan is to strike a balance between healthy and perfection.
Enlist Our Experts
To date, 90% of our clients have transitioned to Weathermatic. At the end of the day, this spectacular smart sprinkler controller delivers a better process for a healthier landscape and provides cost and water savings for our customers. By automatically determining each plant’s needs for better plant health and allowing us to give attention to multiple customers at a time, we are able to meet our client’s needs in the best possible way.
Of course, trial and error is necessary with every new system. Thankfully, our trained garden managers and irrigation experts carry out best practices for water management and are equipped with the know-how to manage your systems and smart sprinkler controllers. If you need assistance with your current irrigation system, want to consider upgrading your sprinklers, or would like to investigate adding Weathermatic smart controllers to your watering plan, contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
— by Tammy Dalke Vanderkolk
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Resources:
Forbes: Pros & Cons of Artificial Intelligence