Irrigation Design

Photo of Irrigation Design Guidance: Temporary irrigation systems are a good strategy to help conserve California's potable water resources.

Introduction

Irrigation systems are used by Landscape Architects to provide supplemental water to trees, shrubs and groundcover, as required to support aesthetic, safety, environmental mitigation, stormwater pollution prevention, and erosion control. Irrigations systems support planting that helps integrate the highway within its natural or built environment to provide human scale and maintain an area’s unique visual context.

Cost Effective Design

Irrigation must be cost effective. Landscape architects design irrigation systems that have low life-cycle costs and able to endure for the long-term.

Water Conservation

Caltrans is a good steward of California’s limited water resources and actively manages, promotes and implements water conservation practices within the highway transportation system and associated facilities. Cost effective and appropriate water conservation strategies are employed in the design, construction, and maintenance of transportation facilities including "Smart" Irrigation Controllers, wood and gravel mulches, hardscape surfaces, and recycled water to the maximum extent possible.

For information on how to design irrigation systems that comply with Caltrans water conservation requirements, please visit our Water Conservation web page.

New landscape projects that irrigate greater than 500 square feet are required to comply with either California's statewide Model Water Efficiency Ordinance (MEWLO) or the local ordinance, if one has been adopted. Information on California's MWELO is available at our MWELO web page.

"Smart" Irrigation Controllers

Each District has standardized on one (or sometimes two) "Smart" irrigation controller systems. Standardizing on a single system streamlines both construction and maintenance activities by reducing training needs as well as reducing the need to stockpile a variety of spare parts. The list below identifies the controller systems that each District has selected as their District (Maintenance Region) standard.

District	"Smart" Controller Standard	Notes
2	Motorolla IrriNet	None
3	Calsense ET2000e	None
4	ET Water	None
	WeatherTRAK
5	Rainmaster Eagle Plus	None
	Rainbird Maxicom
6	Toro Sentinel	None
7	ET Water	None
8	Calsense ET2000e	None
9	Rainbird Maxicom	None
10	Calsense ET2000e	None
	Rainbird Maxicom
11	Calsense ET2000e	None
	Rainbird Maxicom
12	WeatherTRAK	None

Updated: October. 10, 2017