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Navy Engineers Develop Smart Water Conservations Systems for Improved Irrigation

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS120927-14
9/27/2012

By Darrell E. Waller, Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center Public Affairs

PORT HUENEME, Calif. (NNS) -- Engineers at the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) are demonstrating a new water irrigation system, with the first installation at Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) Sept. 27.

The system is intended for use at Dept. of Defense (DoD) installations worldwide. The "Smart Water" conservation system project will demonstrate and validate the new technology, making more efficient use of potable water supplies and reducing the demand for treated water used for landscape irrigation.

The water conservation system will help military commands comply with Executive Order 13423 which called for agencies to reduce water consumption starting in FY-08, and by the employment of cost-effective life-cycle measures by 2 percent annually (or 16 percent total) by the end of FY-15.

"The current water processes used to irrigate the surrounding landscape at many DoD facilities are highly inefficient, and large quantities of potable water are lost to evaporation, wind, and overwatering" said NAVFAC EXWC Commanding Officer Capt. Brant D. Pickrell. "A smart water conservation system could significantly reduce DOD potable water costs and demand, potentially saving millions of gallons of water per year."

The DoD operates facilities in the Southwestern desert with water supplies that fail to meet the current and projected demand. Specific water issues include pump rates exceeding aquifer recharge, and water rights disputes. However, irrigating landscapes is largely done through trial and error, resulting in overwatering and unhealthy turf and plants. The increasing costs of production per unit volume, quality, and habitat degradation issues have significantly impacted military installations and operations. These problems are likely to intensify with the changing global climate.

Currently, huge volumes of potable water are used to irrigate large turf areas (athletic fields, parade grounds, housing areas, and other landscaping essential for recreational and morale purposes). Potable water consumption for irrigated landscape surrounding DOD buildings can exceed the internal water consumption of the building by a factor of 2 to 5 times. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) estimates that more than 50 percent of this landscape water is then lost to evaporation, wind, and overwatering.

Existing irrigation systems can be retrofitted with smart water conservation systems combining proven technologies such as roof top rainwater with newer, less developed concepts such as HVAC (heating, ventilation and air- conditioning) condensate harvesting, and weather tracking controllers to provide an optimized, highly efficient system for irrigation of landscape surrounding DoD buildings.

The project will measure overall success by a reduction in potable water consumption used for irrigation, the reduction in potable water costs, and the payback period resulting from smart water conservation system capital costs.