Digital IrriGreen Sprinklers Match Shape of Lawn, Cut Water Use in Half

By Mike Ratliff, Senior Associate Editor

A lush, green lawn has been part of the idealized American Dream since the post-WWII housing boom. When it comes to garden-style apartment communities, the lawn serves as an amenity in its own right. This is especially true for renters with children.

Yet lawns are only possible through extensive watering. According to the EPA, of the 26 billion gallons of water consumed daily in the United States, approximately 7.8 billion, or 30 percent, is devoted to outdoor use. More than half of that outdoor water is used to water lawns. As witnessed by the California homeowners willing to risk a $500 fine to water lawns during the severe drought, a green lawn means a lot. Yet many lawns are over watered, usually due to inefficient irrigation systems. The new IrriGreen digital lawn irrigation system aims to step up the sprinkler game and cut water use in half.

The IrriGreen Genius Irrigation System digitally controls its sprinklers to match watering patterns to the exact shape of any lawn. This curtails spray overlap, reins in over-spraying and reduces runoff and ultimately uses up to 50 percent less water than traditional sprinkler systems. The system also cuts the number of sprinkler heads by 80 percent, and requires 85 percent less underground pipe. This makes the system easier to install and maintain.

IrriGreen Wireless Control

You can think of the sprinkler heads working in a similar manner to inkjet printers, which do not shoot ink unevenly or haphazardly across a page, but rather spray the right amount of ink in controlled patterns. The IrriGreen system adapted digital technology and its nozzle design from the high-tech commercial printing industry, and matches precise water patterns to the exact contours of any lawn.