Toro Australia

Recent droughts around eastern Australia were a driving force behind finding more efficient ways to save water at the world's largest sub-topical garden in a city centre.

The Roma Street Parklands, which cover 16 hectares in the heart of Brisbane's CBD, has reduced water consumption by a further 20 percent with help from Toro Australia.

A total of 1166 Toro Precision^TM Series Spray Nozzles were installed to the existing irrigation system in the parkland's ‘spectacle' and ‘rainforest' garden sections.

Toro Territory Manager for the Irrigation Division, Mr Chris Ashwood, said the Precision Series Spray Nozzles were the most efficient nozzle line available to help irrigation professionals manage water use.

"The Precision Series Spray Nozzles deliver a precipitation rate of 25mm/hr, which is significantly less than other nozzles of comparable radius size," Mr Ashwood said.

"Each nozzle features a special patented H²O "chip" which creates one or more highfrequency oscillating streams to achieve the desired arc and radius.

"This generates a more uniform droplet size that reduces misting, minimises overspray on non target areas and increases wind resistance.

"It also ensures that water is applied slowly and evenly, which in turn, eliminates run-off without sacrificing landscape health.

"Available in a wide selection of arc and radii, the Precision Series Spray Nozzles are ideal for retrofits, which can provide significant water savings on older equipment and reduce customer water bills."

Roma Street Parkland Operations Manager, Mr Paul Hoffmann, said Toro's Precision Series Spray Nozzles had already contributed to significantly reducing water usage at the parklands.

"While the parklands primarily derive water supply from storm water harvesting via its main onsite lake, the recent drought and associated water restrictions demonstrated the increasing importance of using water more efficiently and reducing run-off," Mr Hoffmann said.

"As a result, the parklands implemented a number of irrigation improvements when the water restrictions were first introduced.

"We previously used earlier model standard fixed arc and variable arc sprinkler nozzles to water the parklands, which had precipitation rates of 34.1mm/hr and 47.5mm/hr.

"Toro's Precision Series Spray Nozzles provided smarter watering solutions that addressed all of these issues, so we installed the nozzles in our two high profile garden sections.

"The updated sprinklers now have a precipitation rate of approximately 25 percent less than our pervious standard fixed arc nozzles and half of the variable arc nozzles."

Mr Hoffmann said the Precision Series Spray Nozzles were easy to fit to the Roma Street Parkland's existing irrigation system, and provided many more applications than previous models.

"The new sprinkler nozzles have a lot more options in arcs that are available so that the spray does not exceed very specific areas, such as garden beds," he said.

"Not only does this provide a lot more precision, it allows us to easily calculate the exact water usage for each station.

"The spray is also much more uniform which is better for the gardens, and hardly any water is lost from overspray.

"As a result, we are now using water much more efficiently, and reducing our irrigation costs"