by Ryan Dillon*
Prior to water restrictions some councils used
70 per cent of their total water consumption for irrigation.
In response to long term water strategies required for water wise parks and gardens, Broken Hill City Council has just implemented a cost effective cutting edge new online smart water monitoring irrigation system.
Broken Hill City Council in remote New South Wales has taken this approach in hope of saving thousands of litres of water and associated costs to Council.
The methodology is simple, across its eight largest park and oval sites total water usage is 207 megalitres per year.
This equates to almost half a million dollars in potable water costs per year.
The new technology can help save up to five per cent of this water and associated costs saving $25,000 per annum. If realised, this cost saving pays for the entire system in less than one year.
One function of the system is sophisticated leakage
alarms outside of watering hours.
This alone has the potential to save two per cent of total consumption, or close to
500 kilolitres per year.
Monthly benchmarking tools can then be used to show water consumption against plant condition and public amenity value.
Through appropriate management, monthly usage trends can be monitored to help drive best practice in irrigation usage through continual improvement.
While in early stages, this is a great example of modern irrigation for more water wise parks and gardens.
After all what you can’t measure you can’t manage.
For further information visit www.watergroup.com.au
*Ryan Dillon is State Manager of Water Conservation Group Pty Ltd
