The landscaping contractor for Encinitas Ranch, BrightView, is in the final stages of fully automating the entire irrigation system in the community. They have installed WeatherTRAK ET controllers which are the most tested and proven commercial-grade smart irrigation controllers on the market today. These controllers offer minute by minute flow sensing and are capable of alerting BrightView management via email or text if there is an issue.  If there is a critical break, the system will automatically shut down, thus saving Encinitas Ranch significant amounts of water as the typical timeframe for emergency response could be several hours.

By enabling controllers to share information in the cloud without cumbersome wires or hard-to-manage local radios, OptiFlow XR optimizes how, when and where watering takes place. In addition, the eXtended Resolution capability provides high-resolution flow rates that let you visually diagnose irrigation issues without visiting the site. OptiFlow is the industry’s first solution to optimize and maximize flow across an entire site from the cloud. When using OptiFlow with irrigation pumps, OptiFlow helps reduce pump operation costs by minimizing the time pumps are running, reducing the consumption of electricity for the site.

BrightView is also optimizing the Encinitas Ranch irrigation system by resequencing the timers so the stations turn on in order.  This results in an irrigation inspection taking half the amount of time than previous inspections. Having this efficiency allows them to inspect more stations during having to be physically on site.  This programming work is a very time consuming process, but well worth the time and effort as it will save Encinitas Ranch both money and water.

The return on investment is only a few years and BrigthView also helped to mitigate the costs by applying for and receiving substantial rebates through the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and the state.