Pueblo Mental Health Irrigation Project Applic

Home Browse Search

. STATE OF COLORADO COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD OFFICE OF WATER CONSERVATION WATER CONSERVATION & WATER USE EFFICIENCY GRANT APPLICATION PART 3 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION . The Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIPI, an agency of the Department of Institutions, resides on a 300 acre campus in the central portion of the city. CMHIP provides care for the mentally ill. The thera- peutic environment is enhanced by the use of landscaping throughout most of the central campus. Lawn areas totalling 51 acres are combined with nonvegetative landscaping, such as decorative rock and exposed aggregate concrete areas, to create a visually appealing campus. Irrigation of the lawn areas is predominantly by sprinkler systems con- trolled by individual time clocks, with one to six zones per clock, at 68 different locations on the campus. A portion of the lawn grass (7 acres) is still irrigated by hoses, manually. The current irrigation system has evolved over numerous decades as funding allowed for improvements to be made. Because control of the sprinkler system is so wide-spread, attempts at water conservation are often hindered by the labor that must be expended to achieve them. For example, when precipitation occurs during the irrigation season in an amount adequate to eliminate the need for irrigation, it is necessary to send an individual to each of the 68 clocks and interrupt the normal program and then repeat the process when irrigation needs to resume. In order to allow efficient control of lawn irrigation a computerized remote control irrigation system is proposed for the CMHIP campus. A centrally controlled system would not only allow changes to be made instantaneously for individual weather events, such as wind and rain, but would also allow seasonal programming changes to be made for different months of the year. Also, a computerized system is capable of balancing zone watering times across the campus without diminishing water pres- sure in the campus water mains (which also provide fire protection for the patient and support buildings). This allows watering to occur at a more efficient time of day with respect to evapotranspiration conditions. Another feature of the system involves alarm conditions in the field. For example, if an irrigation zone line is broken, the system senses a drop in pressure from established normal values, shuts the zone down, and noti- fies the central computer of an alarm condition on that zone. Repairs can then be undertaken the next working day by the grounds maintenance personnel, conserving water that might otherwise have been wasted. The proposed irrigation control system would be an "MIR 5000" system as manufactured by Motorola Corporation, or equal. A grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, would allow the installation of a central computer and three field satellite units as well as a weather . -5-