Why Water Management?
Good water management is not just installing a high-tech new irrigation controller and expecting instant savings. Commercial properties are typically over-watered by up to 50%, according to the EPA, and our experience indicates overwatering up to 70% in some cases. While a simple equipment upgrade will most likely generate some savings, to save millions of gallons a year and hundreds of thousands of dollars in utility costs like a leading national retail bank (Click to read the bank’s success story.), you need a comprehensive management strategy. That’s why we developed Weathermatic’s Sustainability Services program in partnership with top regional and national property management companies and landscape maintenance contractors to provide a flexible and scalable water management solution for properties of nearly any size or market.
With a company-wide goal of reducing their overall water use by 45 percent by the year 2020, this bank launched a pilot water management program in 2012, saving more than 30 million gallons of water at 40 retail bank branches in just one year. As Weathermatic’s Executive Vice President of Sustainability Services, Brodie Bruner, points out, the success of the program shows a huge change in the industry. “Traditionally, this type of project was only done on large corporate campuses with the most grass. This project turns that upside down and says ‘We’ll take the smallest irrigated areas and use the best technology in volume to produce maximum results.’ They recognize that water is a huge component of sustainability and landscape water is their biggest savings opportunity.”
Creating A Circle of Success
Smarter technology makes this kind of result possible, but accountability is what keeps it working, long-term. To achieve their goal of 45% water use reduction by 2020, the bank team knew they had to get their landscape maintenance contractors involved with aggressively managing irrigation. Because they have sites beyond the reach of just one landscape maintenance company, the national bank chose Weathermatic Sustainability Services to create a link between the bank and all of their landscape contractors across the country. We work with the client and each of their landscape maintenance contractors to set goals, assess repairs, provide reports, and ensure the success of all parties. Our team of analysts monitors water bills and generates reports every month, as well as tracking water restrictions around the country and making sure each property is in compliance with their local restrictions. We also monitor the irrigation systems remotely so we can see that rain sensors are working, controllers are functioning with the correct programming, and repairs are being made professionally. If anything goes wrong, we are able to communicate immediately with the client and with the on-site landscape contractor. This link between the client, the contractors, and the equipment has generated a documented 40-70% reduction in water use on the bank’s properties, so far.
Success Is Contagious
Thanks to the pilot program’s success the bank has launched a second pilot at 12 of their large corporate campuses, saving more than 20 million gallons of water in eight months, and is adding an additional 600 stores nationwide with an expectation to save more than 300 million gallons of water every year (a reduction of more than 50%). They also plan to use the “smart” irrigation solution at their 3,000 retail banking stores that have irrigation systems and all of their corporate campuses, potentially saving over a billion gallons of water each year.
The success of this leading national retail bank’s “smart” irrigation program is proving to the industry that using weather-based irrigation and a simple, standardized process of inspecting and reporting is a best practice for generating the highest water savings. We’re proud to work with a client that is committed to achieving such a brave goal and with landscape maintenance contractors that lead their industry in water management practices. The Weathermatic Sustainability Services team is dedicated to ensuring our partners’ success by using modern equipment and proper water management to deliver proven sustainable and financial results on properties of any size.
Curious how much we could save your property? Click here to try our quick and simple Water Savings Calculator.
