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For Atlanta, this year has been a wet one.
Last year, Atlanta was at a nearly 5-inch rainfall deficit for the first six months of the year, and Lake Lanier was approximately 7 feet below full pool and on its way to being 15 feet below full pool by December 2012. In fact, for the entirety of 2012, Atlanta saw a rainfall total of only 37.03 inches, the National Weather Service reports.
What a difference a year makes!
The National Weather Service says Atlanta has already hit 37.32 inches by June’s end, and we’re only halfway through the year—not to mention all of the daily, heavy rain we received the first two weeks of July. This was the wettest June Georgia has seen since 2005.
The rain sensor
What does this mean for you, the commercial property manager? If your irrigation system runs while the rain is falling, then there’s a crucial piece of your irrigation system that isn’t working properly: the rain sensor. A rain sensor is a device that automatically shuts off your irrigation system when it’s raining.
If your irrigation system works overtime in the rain, you might also notice some signs that your plants are being overwatered. These include increased weed pressure, rotted flowers, and yellowing shrubs or turf.
This is why ensuring your rain sensor is working properly in Atlanta’s recent excess wet weather is crucial to saving water, saving your plants, and, ultimately, saving money.
Get water smart
A rain sensor is especially vital to talk about now—not only because of Atlanta’s surplus of rain but also because July is Smart Irrigation Month. Smart Irrigation Month is an industry campaign to increase awareness of the value of water-use efficiency.
At HighGrove Partners, helping our customers save water and money on their irrigation bills is our top priority. We remain educated on irrigation industry trends to ensure we can provide commercial property managers in Atlanta with real solutions to today’s toughest water challenges—whether we don’t get enough rainfall like the droughts of years past or whether we get too much like this year. The goal is to ensure plants get just the water they need—no more, no less.
On some of our customer’s sites, in addition to technology like a rain sensor that can help us control how much water landscapes receive, we use irrigation controllers that can capture weather data from nearby weather stations to manage water on site efficiently.
Wondering if your commercial irrigation systems may need an update? Have our landscape and irrigation professionals inspect your metro Atlanta commercial properties. Call us at (678)298-0550 or use our simple contact form.
