This article printed from igin.com where creative business clicks. All materials copyright 1999-2003 igin.com unless otherwise noted. It all started with the automated sprinkler system. First it was the in-ground manually-operated water system. Then came the clock. Thus began the automation of outside watering. The clock was the savior to water users. Just set in a schedule and leave it. Everything was grand. Even the water purveyors (suppliers) didnt care much. Water volumes were high, money was rol-ling in and everyone was happy. And the clocks became better. They became digital and complex. Multi-programs, multi-settings, multi-days, multi-options and multi-complex. The user was proud of his multi-functional clock, but used it just like his old clock because he couldnt understand the 120-page manual. (Just like a person with a super-fast computer doing word processing.) Then came more suppliers. Each with a new version of the clock. New bells, new whistles, but still a clock. Then the clock became even more sophisticated. It was now linked to the infamous ET (evapotranspiration) and upgraded to a computer. And to make ET work, a weather station had to be added to this clock. And the user still had to put in schedules, but now there were other factors like soil types, flow rates per head and zone, slopes, schedules, seasonal programs, moon phases and political winds. (I just threw in the moon phases and political winds.) Then came the hundreds of computer screens and calculations that could only be understood by going to endless and expensive classes. The user was being told that he now had the ultimate system that would save time and money. In reality, the user still had a clock, albeit an expensive clock. His job became a nightmare. He had had months and months of schooling, water wasnt saved, and his workload skyrocketed. His weather station became an albatross around his neck. It was like trying to control the heat in his house when the thermostat was across town. And so he called in third-party experts to adjust and even manage his system, but it was now costing him a lot of money. And over time, it became too expensive to run, so it was either shut down or used as a very expensive clock. Then came the unthinkable drought, water shortages, hot weather, and global warming. Now these systems are called on to save water, and the users are finding out that most of the water savings promised are not within their reach. Approximately 65% of central controlled ET systems are either grossly under-utilized, or simply used as big clocks. Some are just shut off or replaced with simpler clocks. Since ET systems have the clock as their core component, it is up to the end user to set schedules. If the schedules are wrong, watering is wrong. What was the industry response? Build better clocks. Repackage the clock. Use interrupters on the clock. Tie more ET to the clocks. Make ET automatic. Then sell it as a water saver! And then make ET clocks the industry standard! Three years ago, it was a discussion of which ET equation to use. Two years ago, it was how to build better and cheaper weather stations. But now the pressure is being put on the green industry for real results. Not just promises, and not just for users with lots of money. The proposed solution is to take a swipe at saving water by getting more people to use ET. A round table of manufacturers and water purveyors got together at the last Irrigation Association show to set a standard technology for the industry, i.e., get ET accepted as the standard. Much to their disappointment, there were too many users of ET there who know from experience that ET is not the solution. In fact, the conclusion reached, with some help from the audience, was that proliferating ET was not the answer. Let innovation and water pricing be the driving factors in reducing water consumption. But we are still faced with the clock and its schedules. Recently, at a water conference in a major metropolitan city, the head of the water department made a shocking proposal that all the clocks in the entire city be shut off and all watering be done by hand. Clocks are causing high water consumption. And the size of the clock or the cost of the clock doesnt matter. It is still a clock. So where does the industry go from here? Innovation is the mother of progress. In the past few years, new technologies have emerged that appear to be very promising. The industry had a bout with sensing technology many years ago and still has a sour taste in its mouth. But then the computer came along and advanced sensing techniques were invented and refined. The agricultural side of the water world has been a leader in testing and using advanced technology. Sensors in agriculture are now mainstream and proven. In agricultural applications, soil moisture sensors are primarily used as data loggers, with information gathered manually and watering adjusted manually. But farmers and growers now know the condition of their soil and can adjust watering accordingly. The result is better production at a much lower water and electricity cost. There has been a paradigm shift in the industry. But because of the large areas being watered and the diverse watering techniques, soil-controlled watering has been elusive. But enter the green industry. Now the paradigm shift is moving faster. The widespread use of automatic sprinkling in the green industry has allowed soil-controlled watering to become a reality. Let the grass and plants water themselves. But several significant technological advancements needed to come together. First, the cost of the personal PC had to drop. Enter the under $1000 PC with power surpassing any previous controller, and less expensive than most commercial clocks. Next, the integration of the advanced two-wire network that allows a conventionally wired system to become a two-wire network with little or no wiring. Finally, the development of soil moisture sensing technology that does not require soil type or salt compensation, is easy to install, will outlast the water delivery system, and most importantly, is inexpensive. Now, real time soil-controlled watering is achievable. And what does this mean? It means that grass waters itself. Each microclimate, when it is thirsty, calls for water. When it has had enough, it shuts the water off. There are no schedules, no clocks, no changes for seasons or changes for weather. If that were not enough, more technology has been deployed. With a PC as the site controller, standard modem technology and communications can be used without expensive equipment and software. Cell phones can now be used to control and adjust the watering. Remote computers can access the site computer, which can be adjusted as if the user were there. Then to top it off, the site computer can send e-mails to the user and give status updates over the Web. So what is the catch? Is this really too good to be true? This must be smoke and mirrors. There is some human intervention with sensor-based technology. First, no technology can take the place of a person visiting a site and assessing its overall health and beauty. The watering decision, however, is a simple one. Is a zone too wet or too dry? And the correction is equally as simple. Tell the computer that the zone needs more water or less water and let the computer be the workhorse. The other difficulty in implementing sensor-based technology is educating the user in correct watering principles and encouraging the user to de-learn some of their ingrained clock thinking. For example, one user new to the technology noted that the system did not start watering until the first of June, eight weeks after he turned on his water. In reviewing his soil moisture graphs with him, he realized that the soil simply did not need to be watered. It had plenty of water during that time. Another user said that the sensor had not turned on the water in a grove of trees. The moisture graph line was flat and he thought there was a malfunction. A soil sample solved the mystery. The ground in the grove was super saturated, almost to swamp conditions. Six weeks later, the moisture graph started to show some drying out. In the past three years, he had replaced trees and he didnt even know the cause. The trees were over-watered. Sensor-based watering is now a reality. And it doesnt take hundreds of thousands of dollars and full-time water managers with college educations to implement it. Now, even small commercial landscapes can have the advantage of advanced technologies. The green industry faces a daunting task, and is at great risk. Cities and water purveyors will no longer wait for the green industry to get its act together. Results will be dictated to the industry, and all aspects of the industry will come under tough regulation. The green industry cannot wait for results. New technologies that really work and that can show water savings immediately must be implemented. The future is here and now. The paradigm has shifted and technology is providing the power to take watering into the 21st century.