Page 42 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2017

CREDIT: RACHIO

In the Zone. The Rachio smart controller offers “set it and forget it” intelligence that can compensate for weather, season and the unique
characteristics of irrigation zones. www.rachio.com
toilets. If the home does
not include a graywater Taking It Outside
treatment system, the The Flex House takes water conservation outside the home by
two wastewater streams demonstrating efficient irrigation with the Rachio Smart Irrigation
combine into a single Controller. This controller communicates with local weather stations
pipe outside of the house, and incorporates information about each watering zone to create
and all of the wastewater watering schedules that guarantee plants only receive water when
flows to the sanitary sewer they need it.
According to the EPA, Americans spend 9 billion gallons of water
system. In California,
CREDIT: NEXUS municipalities with water on landscaping, and the agency estimates that up to 50 percent of
recycling in place require
that water may be wasted by inefficient systems. Recognizing the
The Full Treatment. With a dual plumbing in new huge potential savings, the EPA began certifying smart controllers
200-gallon daily capacity, the construction; municipalities through its WaterSense program starting in 2011.
NEXtreater from Nexus eWater without water recycling may “[Conventional] irrigation controllers were as smart as they were
filters and disinfects water to still elect to mandate it. going to get the day they were placed on the wall; the intelligence
NSF 350 standards. Treated
graywater can be stored and “The logic was, some was confined to the device itself,” says Ric Miles, VP of Business
used to irrigate landscaping and municipalities are already Development at Rachio. “There was no insight into seasonality or
to flush toilets. requiring dual plumbing; meteorological events, because they were not connected.”
www.nexusewater.com
let’s give them an option so In contrast, a smart irrigation controller can track local weather
homeowners can actually do something with it,” says Josh Fuller, and soil moisture and match that information with detailed
director of marketing and sales for Nexus eWater. “The builders are information about planting zones, including soil type, slope,
coming around because they feel like they are giving the homeowner sun exposure and plant species to create customized watering
something of value.” The NEXtreater, which is the most expensive schedules for each zone. These controllers can make decisions based
part of the system, can easily be plugged in later. on forecasts; for example, if it’s predicted to rain tomorrow, the

40 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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