Less is More Intelligent: Smart clients use smart controllers

摘要

Home owners everywhere are overwatering landscapes. Shortages have forced water agencies to impose restrictions on watering and limit new turf development. As a result, many consumers feel they must choose between changing their landscape appearance or paying extravagant water bills. Fortunately, they don't have to. Smart controllers now allow clients to water efficiently while keeping their landscapes healthy, which gives contractors another tool in their successful irrigation management arsenal. Onaverage, one-third of municipal water is used for watering home landscapes. Water agencies consistently report that home owners water twice the amount necessary. For example, as shown in Figure 1, Kentucky bluegrass receives an average of 50 inches of water per year, but it actually needs just 23 inches annually to remain healthy. As a horticulturalist, I see low water landscapes overirrigated every day. There have already been 6,500 "lawn watering violation warnings" issued this year in Tampa, Fla. (St. Petersburg Times, August 19,2004).