Colorado’s Fort Carson Saves 50 Million Gallons of Water Annually with Help from Smart Irrigation

“Fort Carson achieved these water reductions without limiting anyone’s use of water”

— Mark Hunsicker
Directorate of Public Works Operations
and Maintenance Division Chief

CHALLENGE: MANDATE TO REDUCE WATER USE BY 20 TO 30%

Fort Carson is an Army post near Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful and scenic locations to train and prepare soldiers to win on the battlefield.

The Fort covers 137,000 acres and its location has made it one of the most requested duty stations in the U.S. Army. Part of Fort Carson’s natural beauty comes from its ability to maintain vibrant and healthy landscapes, ranging from turf to plant life.

A mandate requiring the military base to achieve a 20% water reduction by the year 2020, however, threatened its aesthetically pleasing environment. In addition, the extensive Army post was tasked with ensuring a 30% reduction during the summer months.

Lack of Water Management Becomes a Hurdle

To carry out the base’s water initiative plan and meet water conservation goals, several upgrades were required. The Fort’s previous irrigation system had outdated “dumb” timer sprinklers and consisted of mismatched and desynchronized controllers. It also lacked precise management tools, central Internet management, and flow reporting.

To get its conservation program on track, Fort Carson chose to implement WeatherTRAK smart irrigation management solutions.

SOLUTION: WEATHERTRAK MAKES REDUCING WATER CONSUMPTION PAINLESS

HydroPoint WeatherTRAK is a cloud-based smart irrigation management system that provides Fort Carson with the visibility to track water usage across each water meter and the Fort’s 165 controllers. This technologically advanced solution relies on the most accurate, high-resolution weather data to optimize water scheduling and determine the exact volume of water required to beautifully maintain the landscape.

WeatherTRAK Central, the software component of WeatherTRAK, provides real-time visibility and control of the irrigation system from an Internet browser, on any device. Whether at a desk or on the grounds, Army maintenance workers can program a single site or a portfolio of sites, monitor performance, track asset inventories and water usage from anywhere, and receive notifications when there are problems, so issues can be remediated immediately before water is wasted and damage is done.

FORT CARSON EARNS AN ARMY AWARD FOR ENERGY AND WATER MANAGEMENT

WeatherTRAK smart irrigation controllers had an immediate impact on Fort Carson’s water reduction plan. With 165 WeatherTRAK controllers in place, the Fort immediately eliminated overwatering and reduced water consumption.

In addition to water savings, one of the biggest benefits of WeatherTRAK was a boost to operational efficiency. The rain pause function, for example, now takes two minutes to operate and execute for the entire site; previously it required 30 or more man-hours to achieve the same results. After reducing water consumption and increasing operational efficiency, Fort Carson was honored and received the Secretary of the Army Award for Energy and Water Management.