4.5. ERMUSR 05-12-200945
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MEMORANDUM
TO: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
John Dietz
Jerry Gumphrey
Daryl Thompson
FROM: David Berg
DATE: May 12, 2009
SUBJECT: Follow-up to Rebates to Encourage Automatic Sprinkler
Controls
At last month's Utilities Commission meeting we presented a proposal to offer rebates of
$125 for single family residents and $250 for associations and commercial/industrial
properties for the installation of "SMART" irrigation controllers. Those rebates were in the
form of credits on the water bills after the installation of the system. Since last month's
meeting, we have had the opportunity to meet twice with one of the associations in the Trott
Brook Farms addition, along with representatives of the association. We have also met with
the manager of maintenance and their irrigation contractor.
Through these meetings we have learned that there is an additional cost to convert an
existing irrigation system to a "SMART" controller system. Not only does the controller
need to be installed and programmed, but an audit of the existing irrigation system needs to
be completed and any findings from the audit relative to repair or replacement need to be
accomplished for the system to operate at peak efficiency. This audit would look at items
such as the type of controller head and the amount of water that it disperses relative to the
range of area that it irrigates. For instance, five or six heads might irrigate 180 degrees, while
other heads might only irrigate 90 degrees. If the 90 degree heads are not modified to
restrict the flow of water, they will be over-irrigating by a factor of two every time the
"SMART" controller tells them the area needs more water.
We have worked with the irrigation representative for the Trott Brook Farms Association,
who is a Certified Irrigation Contractor, meaning that he has gone through the training for
the "SMART" irrigation systems, to determine the total cost of converting an association's
system. He has estimated that a large "SMART" controller capable of handling more than 9
zones and up to 25 zones would cost $1,000. He has estimated that it will be approximately
$1,000 to complete the audit and make the necessary changes that he anticipates he would
find through the audit process. The information we quickly pulled together for last month's
Utilities Commission meeting indicated that the cost to convert the system was
approximately $600, which is the cost of a "SMART" controller in a standard size capable of
handling 9 zones. The reality of this situation is most associations are going to need the
larger "SMART" controller at a cost of $1,000 plus the audit and any repairs or
modifications that are necessary. So the total cost of converting an average association
system will be in the $2,000 range. We believe that the cost to totally convert a residential
system would be approximately half this amount.
We are therefore modifying our recommendation from last month's to indicate a rebate of
$250 for a single family residential conversion and $500 for an association and
commercial/industrial conversion. Rather than increase the amount of the credit per month
on the water bill, we have extended the number of water bills that would receive the credit,
so a single family resident would receive a $25 credit for 10 months, and an association or
commercial/industrial property would receive a $50 credit for up to 10 months. If the
Utilities Commission is comfortable with this proposed change, we are prepared to send
notices to the associations in the city and make announcements in the City of Elk River's
upcoming newsletter, detailing the rebate program.
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