Water Managed Sites
Serving the Greater Calgary, AB area
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What is a Water Managed Site?
The City of Calgary is increasingly going through drought level changes and infrastructure breaks that results in the Drought Meter being increased to Stage-1 and beyond. What that means for commercial and residential properties is that you are not able to provide enough water to your plant material to keep it alive due to the extremely restrictive water by-law. The average residential property needs 6 to 10 hours a week of watering while commercial properties are 4 to 6 times more. Wow! That seems like a lot, but in reality it is not. The irrigation industry has been working over the last 20 years to apply water slowly so the ground can absorb it and not waste it. The most efficient way to keep a property landscape alive is an automated irrigation system.
Don’t fear the Canadian Prairie Chapter of the Irrigation Association has been working on the Water Managed Sites program to create a performance based program to ensure you have the required water for your landscape. Joining the program requires some equipment upgrades, an irrigation assessment by a Certified Irrigation Landscape Auditor (that’s us), and an application to the City of Calgary. Once you are part of the program, you agree to use 25% less water of standard irrigation systems. When the City moves through Stage-1, 2, or 3 restrictions your allowable usage is reduced based on the size of your property and not arbitrarily limited to 1 or 2 hours per week.
Who Benefits from being a Water Managed Site?
- Commercial Properties – Maintain beautiful landscapes while reducing costs
- Municipal & Public Spaces – Ensure responsible water use in parks and common areas
- Homeowner Associations & Residential Complexes – Improve curb appeal and lower expenses
Get Your System Assessed Today! Our team of experts is ready to help you save water, money, and time. Whether you’re looking to improve an existing system or verify the efficiency of a new installation, our certified audits provide
How to become a Water Managed Site
Application Process – This is completed one-time to ensure your property meets the City’s requirements
1) Ensure all required system upgrades are in place
2) Complete an initial assessment with a Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor
3) Apply to the City of Calgary
4) Complete a performance audit and make any required changes
Yearly Process – Your site needs to be managed to ensure it is meeting the required water reductions:
1) Report your starting water meter reading in the Spring
2) Manage the water use over the season to ensure a 25% reduction of water use
3) Report your ending water meter reading in the Fall
4) Submit reports to the City to confirm compliance
It’s a fairly simple process and the team at Prestige Outdoor Services can help you become a Water Managed Site. Reach out to us as we would love to help you become an efficient irrigator with a vibrant and living landscape regardless of the City’s restrictions.
Required Equipment
1) Current backflow prevention device – A backflow prevention device is a health and safety device that prevents dirty outside water from coming back into the drinking water. It needs to be certified yearly to ensure it is operating properly and keeping your drinking water safe.
2) Dedicated water meter or totalizer – A totalizer records to total amount of water used by the irrigation system. Commercial properties generally have a dedicated City meter and that can be used. Residential properties generally need an independent totalizer installed.
3) Master Valve – A master valve shuts off the water to the irrigation system when the sprinklers are not running.
4) Flow Meter – This device reports back the active water flowing through the pipes to the irrigation controller. It can detect when there are broken components and automatically shutdown the system when their are failures.
5) Smart Controller with Weather Adjustment and Remote Access – Let’s get SMART and use an irrigation controller that looks at the current weather conditions and the forecast to only water when you need it and disable the system when it gets wet outside.
6) Local Rain/Freeze sensor, or Soil Moisture Sensor – We know that the weather in Calgary can change community-by-community, the program requires a local sensor to catch the weather around your property
Irrigation systems installed in the last 10 years have most of these components already and the missing components can be upgraded. Part of our assessment process is to ensure your property can be made to meet the program.
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