Test Results
Setting the Industry Standard for Intelligent Water Management
In a rigorous test protocol designed by the Irrigation Association (IA) and conducted by the Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT) to measure the efficacy of weather-adjusting controllers, ETwater achieved nearly perfect scores, as follows:
100% on Adequacy
This measures the controller's ability to provide sufficient water for plant health by automatically adjusting watering schedules according to daily changes in weather conditions.
98.5% on Efficiency
This measures the controller's ability to irrigate without overwatering or creating runoff.
This performance not only proved the effectiveness of climatologically based self–adjusting landscape irrigation control in real world settings, but it also established ETwater as the industry's performance leader.
Irrigation Association Initiates New Smart Water Application Technology (SWAT) Testing Program
The new testing protocol was developed in response to the need to reduce demand for landscape watering — which accounts for as much as 70% of water use in some areas of the U.S. Leading the efforts to establish water efficiency standards, the Irrigation Association is a consortium of private companies and public sector entities dedicated to finding smarter solutions for agricultural, residential and commercial landscape irrigation. One of the IA's most promising initiatives is the Smart Water Application Technology (SWAT) initiative, a national effort aimed at finding ways to "achieve exceptional water use efficiency in landscape irrigation."
As part of this effort, the IA initiated a program of benchmarks to identify products and practices that demonstrate the highest standards of economical water use. The first of these programs is the Testing Protocol for Climatologically Based Irrigation Controllers. This protocol includes a range of criteria by which to judge the efficacy of controllers that utilize climatological data as a basis for scheduling irrigations. Water agencies will use the test results as an aid in selecting irrigation controllers for rebate incentive programs.
ETwater Puts Smart Watering to the Test
ETwater was the first company to respond to the IA's request for manufacturer participation in the testing process. Testing ran for 30 days, from October 1 through October 30, 2004.
CIT devised a demanding month-long series of tests that required accurate watering of six distinct landscapes, each of which was programmed into the controller. The six landscapes represented a different matrix of 11 landscape parameters including soil type, slope, sun exposure, irrigation method, distribution uniformity, plant type and precipitation rate. Every one of the landscapes, therefore, had unique irrigation requirements.
CIT provided a series of specific attributes that determined irrigation requirements for each landscape. CIT then attached a "datalogger" device to the controller, which measured when a zone began watering, the duration of the watering event, the number of cycles a zone watered, and the length of soak time in between each cycle. CIT then calculated controller performance with the basic run time data.
For the weather information component, the ETwater system relied entirely on weather data from the CIT-designated Mt. Shasta station in the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS). Using the supplied weather data, the controller had to
- calculate the level of ET and rainfall
- adjust watering for each station on a daily basis for each of the six assigned landscapes
- ensure the landscapes didn't fall into water deficit or water surplus conditions
Through the 30 day period, the ETwater system accurately adjusted watering for each unique landscape and weather condition, including 3.58 inches of rain that fell during the test. ETwater delivered the correct amount of water to assure plant health and virtually eliminate overwatering and runoff. The IA plans to publish all test results on their SWAT web site in the near future (see link below).
For information on the organizations referenced herein click below:
« Previous Case Studies: Homeowners
Next » Science & Approach