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 Weather Based Irrigation Saved Users Money Last Week 

 

        

We received from .52 to 1.07 inches of rain during last week's storm. This was enough to replace 3-5 days worth of irrigation on most properties. If you had Weather Based Irrigation, you saved that water cost. If you look at the irrigation need graph from 2013, you can see that there were several of these rain spells and water was saved during each with Weather Based Irrigation. It normally results in 20-30% savings during a normal year.

 

Without Weather Based Irrigation, you must adjust the controller based on your estimation of the upcoming weather. This is a very inexact science as the weather forecast is never 100% accurate. In addition, you have to go to the controller and manually adjust the settings. We try our best to do so but are never 100% accurate. This week was a prime example of the inaccuracy of guessing. The rain was forecast but the prediction of how much was widely varying form forecaster to forecaster, and none said we would get an inch as we did at PDX and Troutdale. To protect your landscape without Weather Based Irrigation, we err on the side of caution and do not save you as much water as with Weather Based Irrigation.

Rain Also Varies By Location  
Another interesting item to note regarding last week's rain is the fact that the rainfall varied throughout the metro area with as low as .52" in McMinnville and 1.07" in Troutdale. The irrigation value of the rainfall and possible water savings in Troutdale was twice that of McMinnville.  
 
Our Weather Based Irrigation is based on a sophisticated network of weather stations throughout the Portland area but there are only 3 weather stations here locally. With the variance of rain, we are recommending Site Rain Cans for sites with Weather Based Irrigation. All the other weather data that goes into the irrigation need calculation are pretty consistent with the only major site variable being rain. Site Rain Cans are helping us save the maximum water from supper weather downturns.