PROJECT OVERVIEW:
AAA Landscape has proudly partnered with the Desert Ridge Community Association (DRCA) since 2006 and as a result of the ongoing management of the landscape, DRCA has won numerous awards for its landscape. AAA Landscape maintains over 85 acres of granite, 5,431 shrubs, and over 33,000 trees. In addition, there are 3 large wash areas which provide the homeowners walking paths through the natural desert landscape. AAA Landscape was approached by FirstService Residential and the DRCA Board of Directors to come up with cost saving measures for the association by conserving water across its vast network of common areas, while still preserving the lush beauty of those landscapes. If possible, the association hoped to leverage its existing controller technology to help minimize costs.
CHALLENGE:
AAA Landscape was requested to investigate and evaluate the state of the existing Central Control Irrigation System at DRCA. The existing irrigation system, a Motorola Irrinet/Scorpio system with 35 Scorpio controllers powered by 3 main Irrinets, was approximately 15 years old and had challenges functioning as a Central Control Irrigation System. The remaining life span was +/- 5 yrs. The system also did not enable precision irrigation management and the ability to monitor flow data the way we needed it to to manage our water budgets.
SOLUTION:
From the project’s inception, the development team sought to ensure that environmental responsibility was designed into all facets of the site, including landscape and irrigation components. AAA Landscape recommended and installed a Rain Bird® IQ™ Central Control System which monitors DRCA’s irrigation system, maintaining peak water efficiency even in periods of high heat or during occasional rainstorms. A Rain Bird drip irrigation system offers pin-point watering of every individual plant on-site, eliminating waste. Water-smart Rain Bird components, such as valves and flow sensors, enable each site to take full advantage of water. A good working system alone does not ensure a well managed site. Data collection and database programming services were also provided to give the community the most accurate system information to begin with. This reduced initial over-watering, the amount of system fine tuning required, and enabling DRCA to see a faster return from their investment. The result was a turnkey system with full support from AAA Landscape and Rain Bird Services.
COST AND WATER SAVINGS:
AAA Landscape proposed a water decrease between 15% to 25% percent. So far, DRCA has an approximate 31% decrease in their water usage the first year, and an additional 23% decrease the second year. AAA Landscape has also played an intricate role in partnering with Rain Bird on upgrades to the technology of the Central Control Irrigation System and has absorbed these costs with Rain Bird, passing thousands of dollars in savings to the DRCA keeping the system operating efficiently. With the Central Control Irrigation System and an efficient proactive management program we’ve been successful with our intended purpose; cost saving measures while conserving our most precious resource, water!
