Countywide : High-Tech System to Water Freeway

State transportation officials on Thursday approved more than $1.75 million for a high-tech irrigation system along the Garden Grove Freeway in Orange County.

The new setup along a 9-mile swath of the freeway will be radio-controlled so operators can easily switch it on or off from the Caltrans district maintenance yard in Orange.

Sandy Ankhasirisan, a Caltrans landscape architect, said the system should help save upward of 20% of the water normally used along the stretch.

Under the old system, Caltrans crews dispatched to the swath of greenery lining the freeway had to turn on sprinklers by cranking open valves scattered along the route, a cumbersome task that could take hours.

The new system will allow maintenance personnel to turn off the water quickly, permitting the agency to avoid irrigating when a fast-moving storm system hits Orange County.

“If it’s raining, crews won’t have to rush outside,” Ankhasirisan said. “They’ll be able to just shut it off at one central spot at the maintenance station.”

Installation of the network of pipes and other equipment is expected to begin in September, with work completed by the end of 1992, Caltrans officials said.