3.2
Toilets
WaterSense at Work: Best Management Practices for Commercial and Institutional Facilities
A-13
A.5 Office Complex Reduces
Outdoor Water Use
Case Study Highlights
Facility type:
Office park landscape
Location:
Dallas, Texas
Landscape size:
372,000
square feet
Project overview:
Following an irrigation audit, an irrigation professional
certified through a WaterSense labeled program improved the efficiency of
the office park’s irrigation system by installing a weather-based irrigation
controller, rain sensor, and freeze sensor and performing needed maintenance
on the existing irrigation system.
Water savings:
12.5
million gallons in 2009
Cost savings:
$47,000 in 2009
Simple payback:
Less than 1.5 years
Project Summary
The Granite Park office complex in Plano, Texas, has implemented water-efficient
practices inside and out, including improvements to its landscape and irrigation
system. As a result, it has significantly decreased its outdoor water use—and is
winning awards in the process. Two buildings in the complex, Granite Park One and
Two, have already earned LEED® Gold certification.
The Granite Park complex landscape is maintained by an irrigation professional
certified through a program that has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(
EPA) WaterSense® label. The certified professional, Bruce Birdsong, is the president
of Precision Landscape Management, and he leads a team of irrigation professionals
overseeing approximately 372,000 square feet of landscape at the complex,
maintaining plant health and landscape aesthetics while saving water.
When Precision Landscape Management took
over grounds maintenance at the Granite Park
office complex in 2008, Mr. Birdsong conducted an
irrigation audit to determine the system’s efficiency
improvement potential. At that time, the system was
controlled by traditional clock timers and lacked
proper maintenance. To improve the efficiency of
the system, the complex upgraded to weather-
based irrigation controllers, which analyze local
weather data and landscape conditions to program
watering schedules based on plants’ needs.
2
Granite Park office complex landscape
2
Although not available at the time of installation, the WaterSense label is now available for weather-based irrigation controllers.
