Managing a large HOA with reclaimed water

1. Managing a large HOA with reclaimed water By: Rene Orta

2. Why water conservation? Love 4 H2O Rene Orta I grew up working in the landscape industry. My first full time job was propagating, nursing, and watering at my family owned plant nursery. My love for plants lead me to attain a Bachelors of Science in Landscape architecture with an emphasis in irrigation design. Currently, I manage the central irrigation system and help oversee landscape maintenance contracts for large HOAs. Over the last 5 years I have concentrated on water conservation with a primary focus on education. I strongly believe education is the key to change and success. Education Certificates QAL CLIA QWEL B.S. Landscape Architecture Minor in Irrigation Design CalPoly Pomona, CA

3. Who we are Landscape Contractor Oversight Manage Irrigation Central Horticulture Consulting Mosaic Consulting Horticulture Consulting Water managing Budget Oversight Budget Oversight We help manage an HOAs biggest asset, Landscape. Mosaic Consulting primarily works with large unincorporated HOAs. Mosaic employees are required to be certified and hold a degree in their respective field.

4. Ladera Ranch 750 Irrigated Acres 50,000 Trees 12 Sports fields + 2 dog parks 276 Central Irrigation Controllers + 50 Battery operated controllers 5-7 million dollar budget One 5 acre open grass field, 3 soccer fields, 8 Baseball/Soccer fields Budget consists of landscape contracts, water budget, irrigation repairs, and capital improvement projects. Ladera Ranch has more trees than Central Park, NY Oaks, Sycamore, Tristania, Schinus, Palms, Crape myrtles Mosaic Consulting and Hydropoint Data Systems worked together to develop a new feature for their central control cloud system. 350 Slopes, 98 Fuel mod, 157 Turf, 126 Shrubs 591 miles of pipe, 1597 miles of irrigation wire

5. Ladera Ranch

6. Managing H20 What is water management? and why do we need a water manager? Water management is not new to the irrigation industry, however, new to the commercial and residential field due to mandatory government restrictions. Landscape contractors saw an opportunity and took it upon themselves to define what a water manager does and who a water manager is. Water management is more than just knowing how to turn the OFF and ON switch on an irrigation controller Water managers do not repair sprinklers, they manage the people who do Water management is understanding water conservation related to your plant palette, and client Water management revolves around analyzing water usage data Water managers understand the hydraulics of their irrigation system Water managers analyze soil and water reports Water managers know and understand the needs and demands of their landscape Water managers have a great relationship with their local water agency What do I need to properly manage my water consumption, plant health and distribution system? A central irrigation control system

7. Managing H20 Central Control HOA Board Soil-Plant-Water relationships Budgeting Understanding your source Understanding how the chemicals and minerals in the H20 affect your soil Understand how soil conditions affect plant health, and water intake. Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Understanding the chemicals and minerals in your H20 Understanding your water availability Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Landscape aesthetics and repair costs vs limited budget Understand irrigation scheduling affects the budget

8. Understanding your Source Questions to consider: What is my water quality? Ask your local water district for a water quality report, be aware they may differ for different seasons. Water districts tend to increase the amount of chemicals used in the summer months. Most of the time these reports can be found on their website. The minerals and chemicals in the water can react with irrigation equipment, and the soil causing long term problems. High Levels of chlorine can eat up PVC quickly from the inside, as water corrodes galvanized pipe from both the inside and outside. These same minerals and chemicals will decay the interior of valves and emission devices reducing their life expectancy. Reclaimed water quality over the years is known to clog soil pores, which then slows down or neutralizes beneficial microbial organisms. Solution: Alter maintenance practice to cycle the irrigation system and cycle out the water in the system during the rainy season. This will allow the valves, and emission devices to not get stuck open/closed from calcium or salt build up. This will also cycle out the water and not allow it to sit in pipes for weeks/months. Solution: Budget for long term expenses. When asking the HOA board for more money remember the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” so don’t forget to document field conditions. Budget: POC and pipe replacement, controller upgrade, landscape renovation, water expenses, fertility schedules. Where is my water stored? Depending on the size of your provider some water agencies have the availability to store water in tanks, lakes, or reservoirs. Depending on where it’s stored it can affect the quality of the water. (algae growth in reservoir ) Is my system gravity or pump feed? Depending on the storage location, water availability can differ through out the year. This can have a huge impact on inlet pressure if your system is gravity feed vs pump feed. Practical solution, but usually overlooked due to cost : POC should have a master valve, flow sensor, pressure regulator and basket strainer.

9. Understanding your Source: Peak demand • How many gallons can the local plant produce at peak and how long can they sustain that? • Most providers can only produce so much reclaimed water in a day and if your provider does not have storage facilities or the storage is drained low you could see severe cut backs in your water. This means you need to know the peak demand of your system. • How many gallons do you use on your highest average daily Et? • A Ladera Ranch story : • Water storage tank holds 5 million gallons. Based on historical Et peak demand for a hot July day is 4.5 – 5 million gallons. This is an Eto of .20 • The water agency can only produce 5-6 million a night for all their clients. • 3-4 consecutive days of 95 degree weather in July causes severe water cuts because the tank cannot be filled. Less water in the tank also equals less pressure on a gravity feed system. This means aside from the cut backs, we don’t have enough pressure to irrigate multiple stations at a time on a single controller or anything requiring above 30-40 PSI at head. • All hell breaks loose. • Solutions: • Turn off only sloped and fuel mod areas • Turn off low water plants • Breakdown site into hydraulic trees based on pipe sizes ( max allowed water). Based on your water availability you can decide which areas you can irrigate. • Know your peak demand!!!! Soil samples from your site can give you an insight to the minerals and chemicals already in your soil. Combining both reports can allow you to see possible chemical reactions that can affect soil conditions and plant health.

10. Understanding your Source: Peak demand Soil samples from your site can give you an insight to the minerals and chemicals already in your soil. Combining both reports can allow you to see possible chemical reactions that can affect soil conditions and plant health.

11. Understanding your Source: Peak demand Soil samples from your site can give you an insight to the minerals and chemicals already in your soil. Combining both reports can allow you to see possible chemical reactions that can affect soil conditions and plant health.

12. Understanding your Source: Peak demand Soil samples from your site can give you an insight to the minerals and chemicals already in your soil. Combining both reports can allow you to see possible chemical reactions that can affect soil conditions and plant health.

13. Managing H20 Central Control HOA Board Soil-Plant-Water relationships Budgeting Understanding your source Understanding how the chemicals and minerals in the H20 affect your soil Understand how soil conditions affect plant health, and water intake. Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Understanding the chemicals and minerals in your H20 Understanding your water availability Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Landscape aesthetics and repair costs vs limited budget Understand irrigation scheduling affects the budget

14. Understanding Water-Soil-Plant relationships Questions to consider: What is my soil type and what condition is it in? Soil samples from your site can give you an insight into your soil type, pH, metals, and cation % already in your soil. Combining the soil and water quality reports can allow you to see possible chemical reactions that can affect soil conditions and plant health. How can I rectify my soil conditions? Understanding how to juggle and balance your soils can be daunting, specially when you can have multiple soil conditions within the same site. Soil laboratories can help you create a long term correction plan for you soils. Soils do not change from one month to the next, it’s important to understand it’s a process that can take up to a couple years. How do the current soil conditions affect the uptake of water and nutrients and how does this affect my irrigation schedules? A Ladera Ranch story : High levels of salt in clay soils have slowed down most natural organisms within the soils. Our high pH gives us an alkaline soil with acidic features. The lack of iron due to the quality of our soil has caused a huge chlorosis problem. In addition, salt retains the water making difficult for plants to take it in. Leeching the soils with more reclaimed water only exacerbates the problem.

15. Understanding Water-Soil-Plant relationships

16. Understanding Water-Soil-Plant relationships

17. Understanding Water-Soil-Plant relationships

18. The Ladera Ranch Way What do I need to properly manage my water consumption, plant health and distribution system? A central irrigation control system Ladera ranch was initially designed with the Rainmaster central. Using this software as a starting point we ventured out to gather the “best” attributes from its competitors. After creating a wish list for what we saw as the perfect central we reached out to Hydropoint Data systems and asked if we could partner and develop a new cloud based central. • The new central cloud based software would provide the following • Locks field control panel so all programming is done online which documents every change • New 3.0 app gives us master override functions, and panel unlocking functions on the go • Optimized peak flow management over duration of water windows • New 3.0 app gives us station programming abilities in the field • Ease to create, and alter irrigation programs and its water windows • Create Hydraulic trees for different sites based on maximum allowed capacity of mainline • Budget tool that compares budget to actual usage

19. The Ladera Ranch way - Optiflow

20. The Ladera Ranch way - Optiflow

21. The Ladera Ranch Way - programming We also consulted with Water Concern to develop a new naming, and station gathering attribute system.

22. Managing H20 Central Control HOA Board Soil-Plant-Water relationships Budgeting Understanding your source Understanding how the chemicals and minerals in the H20 affect your soil Understand how soil conditions affect plant health, and water intake. Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Understanding the chemicals and minerals in your H20 Understanding your water availability Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Landscape aesthetics and repair costs vs limited budget Understand irrigation scheduling affects the budget

23. Budgeting Landscape aesthetics and repair costs vs limited budget

28. Managing H20 Central Control HOA Board Soil-Plant-Water relationships Budgeting Understanding your source Understanding how the chemicals and minerals in the H20 affect your soil Understand how soil conditions affect plant health, and water intake. Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Understanding the chemicals and minerals in your H20 Understanding your water availability Understand how the above effect irrigation scheduling Landscape aesthetics and repair costs vs limited budget Understand irrigation scheduling affects the budget

29. Managing a large HOA with reclaimed water By: Rene Orta