BOARD01977

• Board Meeting Date: 3/20/2000
• Description: OWC Section - Water Conservation Planning Program - Evaporation-Transpiration Control Demonstration Project
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: (303) 866-l474

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Bill Owens
Governor

Greg E.Walcher
Executive Director

Peter H. Evans
ewes Director

MEMORANDUM

Dan McAuliffe
Depu ty Director

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

FROM:

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William P. Stanton, P.E.
Chief, Water Conservation Planning Section

DATE:

March 10,2000

SUBJECT:

Agenda Item 27a, March 20-21, 2000 Board Meeting-
Water Conservation Planning Program-
Evaporation-Transpiration Control Demonstration Project

Introduction

Attached to this memo is a description of a water conservation project that has great potential
to improve irrigation efficiency ofresidential lawns. Although lawn watering is only a small part
of overall water use in Colorado, reducing waste can be a significant conservation measure.

Background

The purpose of the project is to find a simple, cost effective way to provide wide area scheduling
and control for customers who over water their landscapes with treated water. The system uses
pager technology to transmit near real-time Evapo-Transpiration (ET) information to specially
designed controllers on site. The controllers read encoded ET information broadcast over the pager
system. They adjust the applications to each zone based on the specific plant, soil, slope, and
precipitation rate.

The project is being funded by the participating cities of Boulder, Longmont and Greeley. The
cost for the demonstration project is $500 per controller, which includes set up, monitoring, and
evaluation. The following tasks have been identified and are outlined in detail in the attached paper: