When a station high depletion alert occurs, it means that the station depletion rate is greater than 70% while in auto mode. The controller will continue to irrigate, trying to compensate by extending runtimes where possible. When this type of alert occurs, the landscape may be at risk.
Possible Causes:
- The controller has been turned off
- The controller has been paused for a long event
- An inadequate number of Water Days exists
- An insufficient Water Window length exists
- A hardware issue exists
- Water day restrictions required by local water agencies
Possible Fixes:
- Turn controller to ON
- Reconfigure long event pauses
- Increase the length of the Water Window
- Increase the number of Water Days
- Assign the stations to a program which has more water days
- Check for programming restrictions on the station level and adjust accordingly
- Troubleshoot and fix any hardware issues that may be occurring
Note
Station depletion is calculated at the end of scheduled irrigation, so it is necessary to wait until the end of irrigation to see if any of the above fixes have helped.
How to Clear a Station High Depletion Alert:
The best practice is to increase the amount of irrigation and then observe the depletion at the end of the next irrigation cycle. It is not recommended to clear the alert by setting the depletion back to 00% since doing so could damage the landscape.
You can however, set the depletion rate to 50% to clear the alert and still ensure that enough watering occurs. To learn how, read: Updating Station Depletions.