Baseball stadium saves money and water by investing in irrigation.

Saving 2.5 million gallons of water has been enough incentive for Grounds Manager Chris Ralston to install the same central control irrigation system at two different baseball stadiums in California.

He first tested a Hunter system in 2008 at his previous location in Lake Elsinore, Calif. “We spent $15,000 and it saved $55,000,” says Ralston, now with the Sacramento Rivercats, the AAA team for the Oakland Athletics. “We brought it up here in February when I came here. So I’m hoping to bring the same savings here to Sacramento.”

This amount of water savings is important: Even though Ralston says they have no water restrictions yet, conservation is still on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Restrictions could be in the works depending on this year’s snow melt and how water is managed this season.

“We do what we can and we’ve made changes by installing a new irrigation system,” he says.

Ralston needs a good system: He has 82 irrigation zones at the stadium and his grounds maintenance program includes everything from caring for turf, rosebeds, shrubbery and trees. His four-employee operation (plus 20 seasonal workers) has to keep everything green for the 72 home games plus numerous concerts and events that the stadium hosts.

For this he has turned to the Hunter IMMS ET system. He says it is easy to use and it is scaled to a single-site operation like stadiums, parks and schools.

“I think the best feature is the fact that it has an ET sensor on it,” says Ralston. This evapotranspiration technology means he does not have to buy a weather station or pay for a service. Everything is on-site and acts as a weather station.

Ralston explains the system’s ease of use was a factor in his purchase decision.

“We have five clocks on site and it puts all five on them on one screen. I pick the start time and the computer does everything for me,” he says. “I double check it, but the fact that it hasn’t failed me, the grass is green and I’m saving 15 to 20 percent on water use means it’s hard to go wrong.”

With many systems available, Ralston says the first step is to check with the distributor, which is how he first learned about Hunter. Distributors sometimes offer classes that will help educate contractors looking to make a purchase.

Ralston’s top three tips for buying include: “Do your research, know your budget and make sure you can afford it, and make sure the software can do what you want to do.”

When Ralston was working in Lake Elsinore, Hunter’s headquarters in San Marcos was just 45 minutes down the road, so he talked directly to them and later formed a relationship where he began testing their products as well.

“I know about all the systems from doing this testing and I’m not afraid to make a change if I want to. But Hunter is the most economical. Their support is great and the product alone does exactly what it is supposed to do,” Ralston says.

This communication between the manufacturer and the end-user is something that Ralston would like to see improved by all manufacturers because of the difficulty of operating some of these systems.

“They had a system here at the Sacramento stadium before I came but it had not been turned on because no one knew how to operate it. Manufacturers can’t assume that just anyone can run these,” he says. “Hunter has done this with me and other companies are realizing the same thing.”

For all of the benefits a central control system will offer, including the water savings, the hardest part for the contractor is taking the time needed to set it up and customize the site.

“You need to focus on the start-up and it does require a little supervising on the computer,” he says. “When you are programming the software, just sit down and spend the time and program it correctly because it will save you time and headaches.”

Special thanks to Lawn and Landscape