Our Water Management Mission: Ensure That the Turf and Plants Receive Only the Necessary Amount of Water, and No More
Over-watering by landscape companies is common in desert landscapes. Since landscape management providers are not financially responsible for the water bills, they often pay insufficient attention to irrigation water use. DLC Resources, Inc. takes responsibility for managing water and tracks the irrigation water use for our communities.
Accountability
Water programming logs are submitted to the Community Manager each week to keep us accountable for irrigation water usage and to document irrigation system maintenance. Water meter maps are created using our GIS-based technology to assist in tracking irrigation water usage on a monthly basis. An annual Water Consumption History Report is created to compare and analyze water usage.
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We are committed to conserving water. Our Superintendents, Foremen and Irrigation Specialists all work together to monitor and make timely adjustments to irrigation programs. However, irrigation knowledge is only as good as what gets implemented. We empower every member of the crew with irrigation knowledge to manage the water at our properties responsibly.
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Setting a new Standard
Water usage data is notoriously difficult to get from water purveyors in a timely manner, often more than a month passes after the actual usage before we receive and collate the data. DLC has initiated a new program to help us manage irrigation water even more effectively: monthly onsite water meter reading. A DLC irrigation technician reads the water meters at approximately the same time each month that they are normally read by the water purveyor. By doing so, we have much more timely usage data to compare with the water budget and troubleshoot any areas of unusually high use. Additionally, when the actual meter bills are received, we can quickly identify any major discrepancies between DLC readings and the water purveyor´s readings. DLC will then assist the Community Manager in solving these discrepancies.
Results
Many of the communities we serve receive water allocation requirements from ADWR (Arizona Department of Water Resources) based on size and landscape type. Using the data we collect, we are able to track water usage against the community´s water allocation. That combined with a continual effort to monitor the condition of the turf and plants results in real savings. ADWR allocates 1,290,503,233 gallons to 17 of the communities we serve. 2009 results show that we used 760,944,459 gallons at those communities. That means we used 529,558,774 gallons below the ADWR allocations. Our water management program results in real dollars our clients are able to reinvest in their communities.
Additional Resources
We at DLC Resources follow the latest news and information about water conservation. The sites listed below offer hundreds of ways to save water, desert landscape guides, educational tools, tips for your family, suggested low water use plants, and much more. Help conserve water by taking advantage of these tremendous resources. Contact us if you need additional help.
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WaterSense Partners |
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Water Use It Wisely |
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City of Mesa, Arizona |
