What happens when you try to answer one simple question: Where is all the water going?
In this episode of the Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy sits down with longtime friend and collaborator Paul Bassett from ENVOCORE to tell the story of one of the most complex irrigation and water management projects they have ever worked on—a massive retrofit at a government military base.
What began as an irrigation upgrade quickly became something much bigger: more than 1,000 water meters, 225 irrigation controllers, 7 million square feet of irrigated landscape, and over 25 million gallons of monthly water use.
Together, Andy and Paul share how they used wireless technology, LoRaWAN gateways, smart irrigation controls, weather stations, soil moisture sensors, and utility-grade water meters to build a system capable of tracking every drop across an entire military base.
But the real challenge was not installing the hardware. It was learning how to trust the data.
They discuss:
- How to discover and estimate a project of this size
- Why some properties are unknowingly use twice as much water as they need
- How missing meter data, duplicate reporting, and underground leaks complicated the project
- Why "gallons per square foot" may be the most important number in irrigation
- How water bills can reveal more about a property than most people realize
- Why contractors should start with the math before they start replacing sprinklers
Paul also shares practical advice that any contractor can use immediately, whether they manage a military base or a five-zone residential system.
If you want to understand how data, water, and technology are reshaping the future of irrigation, this is an episode you will not want to miss.