Garden Irrigation Systems in South Australia




Keeping our gardens watered in this relatively harsh climate can be a real challenge.  So, what's on the market to help make this easier?

I came across an ingenious automatic watering system, Measured Irrigation, designed by South Australian garden enthusiast Dr Bernard Omodei.  This innovative system can be operated where there is no mains power or mains water... or just where you prefer not to use these resources. 

It uses solar panels to power a pump, which pumps water from your tank- which can be rainwater, bore water, or grey water.  The whole system is controlled via a unique evaporation process, rather than by an electronic control panel.

This system costs approximately half that of a standard system, with no running costs!!

The videos below give a basic idea as to how Measured Irrigation works, as well as step by step instructions.


** insert appropriate measured irrigation videos here **




Dr Omodei's system has other advantages too.  The chart below shows comparisons between Measured Irrigation and standard irrigation systems for various aspects.  *** See chart on PRI - below is confusing

Drip Irrigation
                                                            Measured Irrigation
inadequate control of the volume of water delivered to each plant     directly controls the volume of water delivered to
each sector, and the volume of water delivered to
each plant within the sector
blocked drippers can be a problem     no drippers to get blocked
a high level of filtering is required to prevent small
particles blocking the drippers     filtering is required to prevent nozzle blockage at the flow splitter (Dot2dot hose does not get blocked)
identifying and clearing blocked drippers is
tedious and time consuming     identifying and clearing blocked nozzles is quick and easy
residual water in the drip line encourages root
invasion     Dot2dot hose has no root invasion
significant maintenance requirement     minimal maintenance requirement
pipe clamps are necessary     pipe clamps are not needed due to very low pressure
solenoid valves and valve boxes required     no solenoid valves and no valve boxes
complicated     simple (fewer things to go wrong)

More detailed information on how measured irrigations works, installation etc. is available here > Measured Irrigation (PDF 6.4Mb)  ** insert pdf link **

Dr Omodei now distributes his watering system through his company website http://measuredirrigation.com.au/ so feel free to have a look there, or to contact him:

Dr Bernard Omodei
Managing Director, Dot2dot
5/50 Harvey Street East
Woodville Park SA 5011

Phone: (08) 8244 0071

Mobile: 0403 935277

Email:  bomodei [at] measuredirrigation.com.au



There are, of course, watering systems that do connect to mains power and use electronic control panels to set watering intervals.  These can range from fairly simple, to almost needing a degree to operate- with prices to match!

Pope is one company that appears to have quite a good range of garden irrigation products.  They also have an instructional video guide.  Visit them at http://www.popeproducts.com.au/products/drip-watering-solutions

If you want someone to install your system from design to ready-to-go, Adelaide Irrigation and Turf can take on the complete job for you... and they provide FREE ongoing maintenance on any system they install.  Have a look at http://www.adelaideirrigation.com.au/

If you want to try installing your own system, the video below demonstrates a really simple way to do this.


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