City looks to improve irrigation water efficiency

Whitefish is looking for ways it can save water in its parks and landscaped rights-of-way in the city.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is looking to conduct an irrigation and landscape design process that it hopes will identify areas to increase efficiency in water usage.

Maria Butts, Parks and Recreation Director, said the city’s goal is to lessen the use of water for irrigation of vegetation, thus creating a plan that will assist with that.

“As the city is the greatest user of water for irrigation in the city, it is our goal to lessen the amount of treated water used for irrigation,” Butts said. “As well, many of the city’s irrigation systems are antiquated, thereby contributing to the waste of treated water.”

Water is used to irrigate the city’s open spaces during the dry season, Butts notes, but an annual increase of commercial and residential water use in the summer season has prompted the Parks and Recreation Department to evaluate its irrigation system.

In addition to evaluating the irrigation, the review would look at ways to lessen the use of water by incorporating more native plants and grass into the landscaping.

Many of the city’s rights-of-way and open space are landscaped with non-native plants and grasses that require continued irrigation, Butts notes.

City Council earlier this month approved a selection panel to evaluate applicants for the project and to go out for a request for proposals for the irrigation and landscape project.

The first phase of the project is expected to take place in spring of 2020, and include an audit of the city’s irrigation system, identify repairs and make recommendations for improvements.

The second phase, expected to begin in summer 2020, would include the designing of an irrigation and planting plan with a detailed cost estimate for future implementation. The plan would recommend irrigation system improvements and identify native habitat types for use in landscaping.

The plan, once completed, will be reviewed by the city Park Board and likely be forwarded to City Council for approval.

The city last year passed water conservation measures that puts a time restriction on outdoor water in an effort to conserve water.