Soccer Fields Used to Test New Sprinklers

They might look like simple green lawns, but two soccer fields in Simi Valley’s Rancho Santa Susana Community Park are actually being used as laboratories for water conservation.

The fields needed watering, but the Simi Valley Soccer Foundation, which leases the international-size fields from the park district, was finding it hard to pay the bills. Coincidentally, the Calleguas Municipal Water District was looking for a place to try out a new watering system designed to use only the minimum amount of water. So the two groups teamed up on the experimental project.

Buried throughout the fields are sensors which keep constant measurements of the moisture content 4 inches below the playing field. When moisture content drops below a certain level, the sprinklers go on automatically. But if it has rained recently, the sensors are able to detect that dampness and keep the sprinklers from watering.

Dennis Cook, Calleguas’ conservation coordinator, said the idea of the moisture sensors is not that new. But the technology has been updated and improved, he said.

The district will use the fields to gather data and study how the new version of the product works.

Eventually, the water district hopes to see widespread use of the sensors, cutting water bills and conserving Southern California’s most precious resource.