By Todd Burley

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) manages 6,414 acres, filled with many plants that require watering to differing degrees. At the same time, climate change is extending our typical summer drought season, and we are increasingly dealing with water shortages when plants need it most. Irrigation is also one of SPR’s biggest expenses, accounting for 75% of our water use, so finding ways to conserve water while maintaining our living assets is a critical issue.

Luckily, for almost 20 years, Karen Galt, a Senior Landscape Architect, has led the effort to improve our irrigation system. When she started in this role in 2007 only 50 of our 489 parks were using “smart” irrigation systems, linked to computers in our District Headquarters via a dial-up cell connection. That number ha

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