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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />combination of these two would occur when the irrigation system is operated on <br />demand, but within a fixed time window (night time hours, for instance). <br /> <br />As with any irrigation system, the system capacity is based upon the irrigated area, <br />application efficiency, peak season evapotranspiration, days of operation per week, and <br />the allowable daily irrigation window. The major difference between a secondary water <br />system to individual home sites and a larger site such as a golf course is the number of <br />irrigation system managers involved. In the case of a golf course, for example, one <br />irrigation manager is typically in charge of scheduling and operating the irrigation <br />system. This allows the pump station and mainline pipe to be sized to operate at full <br />capacity for a given window of time, say 8 hours per day. This type of user is very <br />predictable and is represented by a relatively flat demand curve over time. The demand, <br />and therefore the flow rate of the irrigation system, ramps up to full capacity over several <br />minutes at the start of the irrigation window. It then runs at capacity until the demand <br />drops off at the end of the irrigation window. <br /> <br />By contrast, a secondary water system for a typical 80-acre housing development, or a <br />whole community, may have 200 to 400 individual lots, in addition to common open <br />space areas. These systems must be designed to accommodate 200 to 400 individual <br />water managers, most of whom are homeowners who have little or no experience in <br />operating or managing irrigation systems. <br /> <br />One way to design and manage a secondary system for subdivisions is to impose tight <br />irrigation watering windows for each lot. For example, Group 1 lots would only be <br />allowed to irrigate between the hours of 10 pm and 1 am, Monday, Wednesday, and <br />Friday. Group 2 lots would be allowed to operate between 1 am and 4 am Monday, <br />Wednesday, and Friday, and so on. While this approach to system design can reduce <br />the installation cost of the secondary water system and maximize pump station operating <br />efficiency, it is generally difficult to manage and may impose overly restrictive conditions <br />on homeowners. <br /> <br />What often happens is that the restrictions are not clearly indicated to new homeowners <br />by real estate agents, builders, or original homeowners when they sell the home. Over <br />time, the rules and order can break down leading to overall homeowner dissatisfaction <br />with the secondary water system. Irrigation systems that require users to follow very <br />narrow operating parameters are generally only successful when there are a small <br />number of lots or customers, such as in estate lot residential development with a very <br />strong and active homeowner's association in place. <br /> <br />Another approach is to design the secondary system based on lawn watering restrictions <br />commonly imposed by potable water purveyors when potable water is used for irrigation. <br />In Colorado, it is common to encourage homeowners to irrigate every other day, or every <br />third day during a drought. Using this as a basis for design, the pressurized secondary <br />water system would be designed to allow between one-half and one-third of the lots to <br />irrigate on any given day. <br /> <br />It is common to limit the flow from an individual residential tap to 10 gallons per minute <br />(GPM), the typical flow allowed by systems using potable water under a typical 5/8" or <br /> <br />Aqua Engineering, Inc. <br />November 17,2004 <br /> <br />Canal Modernization Study <br />-5- <br />