New SL sprinkler system designed to conserve water, money

New sprinkler system designed to conserve water in business discticts

By Mary Richards and Viviane Vo-Duc

May 6th, 2014 @ 11:59pm

ALT LAKE CITY The Salt Lake City Facilities Division is upgrading the sprinkler system in the Salt Lake Central and Sugar House business districts to reduce water usage.

Jim Cleland, the division's program director, said in some places the sprinkler system still has 1980s technology.

Which means that a technician would have to run around and turn off every single controller, each time there is going to be a storm, Cleland said. And, this time of year, you dont get a lot of notice that they are going to come.

At one point, the business districts had about 150 old-fashioned, 1980s controllers regulating irrigation and thousands of circuits that could go wrong, Cleland said.

With water being such a precious resource in the state, city officials are working to reduce water usage. Over the past three years, city crews have been installing smarter sprinkler systems with rain sensors and remote-controlled access.

One new controller can take the place of more than one of the old controllers. Cleland said the districts need 50 stations. The division has installed 30 of those stations so far.

It has a sensor at each location that measures temp, humidity and rainfall, Cleland said.

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New SL sprinkler system designed to conserve water, money