I have been watching the latest news from California, their water crisis is scary looking. By happenstance I turn my attention to my own city installing "smart meters" everywhere. I read in the Dallas paper about Wichita Falls contemplating a recycling effort of sewage water into drinking water. Hmmm. what does it all mean? What I'm afraid it means is that water is a more scarce resource than the price we pay really reflects.
One of our landscaping providers has been telling us for awhile about a new "Smart Controller" he can install that will, properly configured and managed, keep irrigation water use to the absolute minimum required to get the job done and still have the pleasing curb appeal at our properties our tenants and their guests expect. Apparently in our case this can be almost half our current irrigation water use. Yikes!
So this week that landscaper had their reps come in, buy us lunch, and explain how their system works. We are a tough audience.
It's a pretty cool deal. Think about all the irrigation controllers in office buildings that have to be accessed on-site. With this system you access and manage the controller through a web interface, turn the system completely off when there's rain headed our way, fine tune the individual zones, and get real time data on how much water you are using.
The question is, how much does it cost, how long is the payback, and what is the value proposition to our owner clients to induce them to invest quite a bit to replace a regular controller that is not currently broken. Like I said, we are a tough audience. We do like the idea though, and think we know where we can try it out. I'll keep you posted.
