Pueblo Mental Health Irrigation Project Final Report

• Project Type: Ag/Muni Grant
• Contract/PO #: C153652
• Applicant: Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo
• Project Name: Computerized Irrigation Management System
• Title: Colorado Mental Health Institue at Pueblo Final Report
• County: Pueblo
• Water Conservation - Doc Type: Final Report

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PROJECT SUMMARY

In February of 1993 the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIP)
applied for and received a grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board,
Office of Water Conservation to initiate the development and installation of a
computerized irrigation management system. The Colorado Mental Health
Institute resides on a 300 acre multi-purpose campus in the central part of the
City of Pueblo. CMHIP provides care for the mentally ill. Landscaping on
campus contributes in large part to a successful therapeutic environment and
community acceptance of this 600 plus bed facility in close proximity to
residential areas. Irrigated areas on campus total approximately 80 acres and
include several recreation fields for community and CMHIP use.

Irrigation was done in the past primarily by sprinkler systems controlled by
individual time clocks. There were approximately 70 time clocks dispersed
throughout the campus controlling from one to six watering zones each. The
time clocks were normally equipped with minimal programming capability and
offered very little help in implementing water conservation measures.
Additionally, most of the campus watering was done during daylight working
hours in order for grounds maintenance personnel to be sure that the systems
were operating properly. In times when significant rainfall occurred there was
opportunity to shut down system clocks, but this required an extensive amount of
labor to accomplish both shutdown and resumption of normal watering.

CMHIP's request for a grant identified the desire to design and install a centrally
controlled computerized system for managing irrigation that would allow watering
to take place at more optimal times during cooler hours and to be integrated with
the actual weather conditions occurring on campus. Additionally there was a
desire to design the system with alarm capabilities that would identify line breaks
and broken sprinkler heads and notify the system operators of locations while
discontinuing watering in the affected areas until the problems were resolved.

CMHIP's engineering staff had extensive experience with building automation
systems for energy conservation, but realized the opportunity for additional
savings associated with water conservation. Initially, the vendor for the building
automation system was queried to see if there was opportunity to expand the
existing central computer system to manage irrigation. After several discussions
it was agreed that this was a specialized arena that was not well represented by
the normal vendors for building automation.

Upon further research several vendors were identified that specialized in
irrigation control systems. These systems had been successfully employed in a
large number of public and private golf courses and parks. A preliminary system
design was done based on equipment information supplied by one of the