.water crisis is inevitable, but you can reduce wastage while watering your lawn with these smart digital sprinklers. Difference between generic and smart water sprinklers? how do the features help to conserve water? Different products
Introduction
It is 2021, and environmentalists have already given a timeline of seven to ten years to alter the environmental hazards. One of the biggest concerns that every household in the world must address is water conservation, as it is a resource that is depleting fast.
Every day, an average household wastes tonnes of water while watering the lawns. Well, either you can make lifestyle changes or use smart sprinklers while watering the lawns.
Yes, smart sprinklers are an innovative irrigation system used by homeowners to make responsible changes in the way they water their lawns and to conserve water wherever possible.
What is the difference between generic and smart sprinklers?
Generic sprinklers are manually operated to water the lawns. It ensures that every part of the lawn is adequately watered and not let dry. Some of these generic water sprinklers come with advanced features of an automatic timer to avoid manual operation. However, with these generic sprinklers, an average household wastes twenty per cent excess water.
Smart water sprinklers are technologically driven irrigation systems to ensure optimum usage of water on the lawns to keep it green and save money on water bills to keep it green and save money on water bills. It is designed to gather knowledge about the weather conditions, soil conditions, type of landscape, etc., to water the lawns. For instance, if there was heavy rainfall and the lawn is moist and wet, the sprinklers will be automatically shut the entire day.
Smart water sprinklers have a preset timer to schedule the time and duration to water the lawn. The amount needed to water the lawns is determined by sensing the moisture present in the soil and the condensation level in the atmosphere. These insights help in the conservation of water and ensure its optimum usage.
How do smart sprinklers help in water conservation through their smart features?
The IoT based irrigation systems have resulted in the development of smart sprinklers for optimum usage of water. These smart sprinklers top the outdated ways of watering the lawns and the gardens through their automated system and real-time data collection based on weather and soil conditions.
Smart water sprinklers prevent water waste by analysing the key metrics essential to keep the lawn moist and green. Observing these indicators optimizes the irrigation system for watering the lawn without excess usage or wastage of water.
Smart sprinklers can be integrated with a mobile application or voice-controlled devices to schedule the watering time. It needs low wiring and can be easily connected with a hose pipe or the in-ground irrigation system.
Let us understand the features that make smart sprinklers conserve water:
- Rotating Nozzle
Smart sprinklers allow uniform watering of the lawns with rotating nozzles connected with the hose pipe or in-ground irrigation system, which ensures zonal and uniform irrigation of the lawn without wastage of water.
- Understanding of the landscape
Many lawns and gardens have fountains or statues, and some also have flowers and plants which need minimum water. Smart sprinklers are digitized to observe the presence and location of hard surface elements in the lawns; hence, it only waters those parts of lawns where these elements are not present. Smart sprinklers also understand the gardens’ horticultural requirements, ensuring that special plants and flowers are not under-watered or over watered.
- Variable sprinkler head
Not all lawns have the same circumference or perimeter. Each lawn is grown on a different soil type, and they also have different plants and shrubs grown in them. If each lawn is so diverse, then why use the same sprinkler head? Smart sprinklers have variable shapes and designs of sprinkler heads depending on the different horticultural and size requirements to water the lawn.
- Sensors designed on real-time data
Smart sprinklers come with real-time data analysis. It analyzes the weather, climate, soil conditions with its advanced sensors before watering the lawn. If there is a draught, it will not release large volumes of water. For regions in the heavy rainfall region or have moist soil, it will notify the users to water their lawns only when required. The notifications also inform the homeowners if there is any leakage in-ground irrigation system to prevent water wastage. It also analyzes the types of plants and their roots so that only deep-rooted plants get maximum water compared to the rest of the plants. During winters or rainy seasons, the sprinklers shut off completely as the ground remains moist and wet.
- Smart notifications
Smart water sprinklers can be connected with your mobile apps that give information about your locality. You can get smart notifications to understand if you have exceeded the optimum water usage or if your state irrigation system is facing any water shortage. The notifications also inform the homeowners if there is any leakage in-ground irrigation system to prevent water wastage. These notifications help the consumers to adjust and wisely use the water on the lawns.
- Smart scheduling
Smart sprinklers also have the features of smart scheduling with a timer. It can be integrated with your mobile app to ensure your lawns get sprinkled during the designated time of the day. It also ensures that only required volume is released to water the lawns so that the grounds do not get under-watered or over-watered
- Smart valves
Smart sprinklers have smart valves that prevent run-offs and wastage of water. These valves are connected to the water tank and the irrigation system to control the flow and volume of water from the pump. It releases the required volume of water based on understanding the landscape, weather, and moisture in the soil.
- Remote and voice control features
Smart sprinklers can be integrated with Google Nest, and Amazon Echo in case homeowners want to control or direct the movement of water only to a particular portion of the lawn or flower bed. The remote operation features allow the watering of lawns even when the homeowners are not in the house.
Top 3 smart sprinklers every homeowner should use
There are different varieties of smart sprinklers available in the market that homeowners can use to conserve water, save money and ensure their lawns are green. Let us see the top three smart sprinklers that every homeowner must use to water their lawns:
- Rachio
The third generation Rachio smart sprinkler can efficiently direct the volume of water up to 16 zones in a lawn. It schedules the water based on the daily weather forecast so that the lawn is adequately watered. It comes with a flow meter that notifies the user if there is any leakage in the pipes.
- Orbit B-Hyve
Orbit B-Hyve directs the water control up to six zones in the lawn. It releases the volume of water depending on the soil condition and the types of plants present on the lawn. When integrated with the mobile app, it provides condensation data of each zone in the lawn. This helps the homeowner analyze how quickly the different parts of the lawn are losing moisture and in what intervals the lawn should be watered.
- Wyze Sprinkler Controller
Wyze sprinkler controller needs DIY installation to direct water control over 8 zones in the lawn. It takes into consideration 12 factors before scheduling the volume of water to be released into any zone. Homeowners can also manually control the sprinkler and organize it according to the state authorities’ local water restrictions.
Conclusion
Installation of smart sprinklers is simple and does not cost much. Homeowners can consult irrigation specialists to know which one would suit their lawn the best.
Smart sprinklers help to save up to thousand gallons of water every year and as per the EPA mandate, homeowners can avail rebates on their water bills. By using smart sprinklers, you may be able to cut down your landscape water bills.
Small and smart changes in our homes can save money and the environment while fulfilling the purpose of convenience in our homes.
