§ 15.11.990. Irrigation design plan criteria - Equipment.

For the efficient use of water, an irrigation design plan meeting the following design criteria for irrigation equipment shall be included in the irrigation design plan and submitted as part of the landscape documentation package for any project that has a landscape area greater than two thousand five hundred square feet or that uses the water budget calculation option:

A.

Landscape water meters, defined as either a customer service meter provided by a local water purveyor or privately owned meter submeter, shall be installed for all irrigated non-residential landscapes of one thousand to five thousand square feet and all irrigated residential landscapes of five thousand square feet or greater. Irrigated non-residential landscapes of more than five thousand square feet shall provide a separate meter as required by Water Code Section 535, as may be amended or renumbered.

B.

Automatic irrigation controllers utilizing either evapotranspiration or soil moisture sensor data utilizing non-volatile memory shall be required for irrigation scheduling in all irrigation systems.

C.

Sensors (rain, freeze, wind, etc.), either integral or auxiliary, that suspend or alter irrigation operation during unfavorable weather conditions shall be required on all irrigation systems, as appropriate for local climatic conditions. Irrigation shall be avoided during windy or freezing weather or during rain.

D.

Manual shut-off valves (such as a gate valve, ball valve, or butterfly valve) shall be required, as close as possible to the point of connection of the water supply, to minimize water loss in case of an emergency (such as a main line break) or routine repair.

E.

Backflow prevention devices and automatic irrigation controllers shall be installed in all irrigation systems and must be able to accommodate all aspects of the design.

F.

Flow sensors that detect high flow conditions created by system damage or malfunction are required for all non-residential landscapes and for residential landscapes of five thousand square feet or larger.

G.

Sprinkler heads and other emission devices shall have matched precipitation rates.

H.

Sprinkler head spacing shall be head to head.

I.

Swing joints or other riser-protection components are required on all risers subject to damage that are adjacent to hardscapes or in high traffic areas of turfgrass.

J.

Check valves or anti-drain valves are required on all irrigation systems where low point drainage could occur.

K.

Master shut-off valves are required except for irrigation systems that make use of technologies that allow for the individual control of sprinklers that are individually pressurized in a system equipped with low pressure shut down features.

L.

All irrigation emission devices must meet the requirements set in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers'/International Code Council's (ASABE/ICC) 802-2014 "Landscape Irrigation Sprinkler and Emitter Standard." All sprinkler heads installed in the landscape area must document a distribution uniformity low quarter of 0.65 or higher using the protocol defined in ASABE/ICC 802-2014.

(Ords. 29243, 29671.)