Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 73

CAse studY:
WhittleseA, AustrAliA

Case sTudy:
Calgary, Canada

The Client
The City of Whittlesea is located about 20 kilometers
to the north of Melbourne, Australia. Its population of
170,000 is growing rapidly and is expected to reach
250,000 by 2021.
The Project
In light of growing regional water demand, Whittlesea
is seeking to ensure reliable supplies, including
efficiency programs for residential, commercial and
industrial customers, and the reuse of treated effluent
and other wastewater.
As part of this effort, the municipality sought an
integrated irrigation control solution for its open spaces,
gardens, parks and sports grounds. The system had
to remotely monitor and control water distribution and
water use in 81 sites across seven separate areas.
To maximize efficiency, the customer needed a
solution that would automatically moderate irrigation
in each designated area in response to changing
weather conditions.
Goals and Challenges
The customer’s project goals were to reduce water
consumption in landscaped areas, to minimize the use
of potable water for irrigation of city sports fields, to
stay within state-wide drought-imposed water rationing
levels, and to maintain environmental sustainability.
The solution had to allow for remote monitoring and
control, providing real-time information to a central
computer and mobile devices. Close monitoring of
system activity would allow for quickly identifying
failures or disruptions that cause water leakage.
Over time, the customer wanted to track expected
versus actual water use in each of the automatically
irrigated areas. In addition, the system was expected
to be expanded to include non-irrigation functions,
such as control of sporting ground lighting
The Mottech Solution
The IRRInet system, manufactured by Motorola Inc.,
with IRRInet Control Center (ICC) software currently
manages irrigation for over 80 sites across the city
of Whittlesea. This comprehensive solution includes
remote site control and monitoring, as well as system
performance oversight and data retrieval capabilities.
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Along with the ICC, Mottech solution includes the
Irrigation Management Software (IMS) suite and 67
individual field controllers. Data gathered from each
monitored site – including weather, rainfall and ET
rates – is used to determine how much water is needed.
The system is programmed to then take appropriate
action in accordance with prevailing weather conditions,
such as automatically reducing irrigation in a specific
area in response to increased rainfall. The IMS Software
is mainly utilized for creating and automatically
dispatching customized reports, compare irrigation

planning to actual (daily/weekly/monthly) and display
events and information per element.
In case of water flow exceeding the preset rates,
meters on the irrigation lines notify the ICC
software, which in turn automatically shuts down the
damaged line. The system then sends an alert to any
designated software operator and mobile device.
The IRRInet-ICC solution is entirely scalable,
allowing seamless expansion as the landscaped area
in Whittlesea has doubled over the past nine years.
The city also expanded the IRRInet system to control
sports field lighting during training sessions and
after-hours events.
Results and Benefits
The IRRInet system, in conjunction with the ICC
and IMS software, quickly resulted in dramatic
environmental improvements for Whittlesea:
• A 28% savings in water and energy costs
• Significantly reduced water consumption
• Reduced use of potable water for irrigation
• An end to uncontrolled leakage
• Remote and tailored modification of the irrigation
system
• Compliance with state-wide water use targets
With full ICC automation of the IRRInet system,
nonprofit sports clubs no longer need to be involved
in grounds irrigation. Removing club pe '6