Santa Clarita Chooses ValleyCrest for WeatherTRAK Irrigation Installation.

HydroPoint Data Systems and ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance announced a partnership with the City of Santa Clarita to implement Phase II of the world's largest Smart Water Management installations for the Southern California city's landscape irrigation system upgrade.

Phase I of the project, which launched in spring 2010, exceeded the City's expectations for water and cost savings.

Santa Clarita's Irrigation Controller Replacement Program is being accelerated with completion two years earlier than originally planned due to the value to the City and the cost-savings they will achieve. The program will help the City save an estimated 180 million gallons of water annually, allowing it to be better prepared for water rate increases anticipated in 2011-2012. With per unit rate increases of 20-40 percent, Santa Clarita will avoid over-paying for its outdoor landscape water consumption, an area targeted as having substantial fiscal and environmental impact.

"Water conservation by itself is a huge benefit of the Irrigation Controller Replacement Program, but we also wanted to be sure the health and vitality of our landscape assets are not compromised," said Jason LaRiva, Landscape Maintenance Specialist for the City of Santa Clarita. "We chose ValleyCrest to install and program the new smart controller system because we needed a high level of irrigation and horticultural expertise coupled with HydroPoint's technology that we believe is the best available."

"The City of Santa Clarita should be commended for their commitment to making sustainable water efficiency a priority," said Richard Restuccia, Director of Water Management Solutions for ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance. "We are looking forward to working together with them to achieve their financial and environmental goals. As with any complex ecosystem, we'll take a holistic approach looking at the needs of plants, trees, and turf, as well as how the landscape is used and how and when the irrigation system delivers water. Santa Clarita certainly sets the bar high for other cities and municipalities with this model program."

Santa Clarita is replacing old, inefficient irrigation timers with a HydroPoint WeatherTRAK Internet-enabled, central-control irrigation system on 700 acres of the City's Landscape Maintenance Districts, which include parks, medians and streetscapes. Upon completion of the more than 500 controller installation in Phase II, models predict overall water savings to exceed 180 million gallons annually.

The City plans to use expected savings to fund future projects in each Landscape Maintenance District. Other long-term benefits include increased safety for pedestrians and cars due to less overspraying of water, reduced road and sidewalk damage from water runoff, and improved health and vitality for the city's 40,000 trees, which can become diseased and weak when over-watered.

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