Step-by-Step Guide

Understanding Budget Monitor

Budget Monitor is one of the less frequently used features on the WeatherTRAK platform, but it provides powerful tools for tracking water usage against budgets and restrictions. The feature is particularly valuable in regions with strict water restrictions where properties are given specific water budgets or face tiered rate structures with penalties for exceeding certain usage thresholds.

The Budget Monitor focuses on water bill and water budget data. When working with budgets, there are two key concepts to keep in mind: making a budget (how much you want to use) and keeping a budget (how much you actually used in comparison). The Budget Monitor helps you manage both aspects by allowing you to create meters, track bills, set budgets, and compare budget to actual usage—similar to checking a bank account to see how much water remains in your budget.

Budget Monitor Reports Overview

Before diving into setup, it's helpful to understand the reporting capabilities available through Budget Monitor. As a water manager, you can produce compelling reports for your customers that show their progress against water budgets, display water bills, and identify where they're in budget or over budget.

The reports allow customers to see how money on their water bill is being spent. You can plug in the price of water and break down exactly how much is being used to water grass, trees, and other landscape areas. This provides clear facts and figures on water usage allocation across the property.

Setting Up a Water Meter

The first step in tracking water usage is to add a water meter to your system.

1. Navigate to the Budget Monitor tab and select Water Meter List.

2. Click Add New Water Meter.

3. Name the water meter. Typically, you'll use a meter number that appears on the water bill.

4. Select the meter type. Specify whether it's an irrigation-only meter or a combined meter (mixed meter that serves both irrigation and indoor use).

5. Complete any additional information about the meter.

Once you've set up a water meter, it will appear in your water meter list. You can select any meter to view all the information you entered, including meter type and meter number.

Working with Mixed Meters

Mixed meters present a unique challenge because they combine irrigation and indoor water usage on a single meter. Calculating irrigation water usage on a mixed meter requires separating out the indoor consumption from the total.

In some regions, this calculation is easier during certain times of year. For example, in areas with cold winters where irrigation doesn't run for five months, you can subtract winter usage to establish a baseline for indoor consumption, making it simpler to isolate irrigation usage during the growing season.

In regions without seasonal irrigation breaks, calculating mixed meter irrigation usage becomes more complex and may require additional analysis tools.

Adding Water Bill Data

After setting up your water meter, you can begin adding water bill data to track usage and costs over time.

1. Navigate to the Water Bill List under the Budget Monitor tab.

2. Click Add New Water Bill.

3. Select the meter you want to add a bill to from the dropdown menu.

4. Enter the meter reading from the water bill.

5. Enter the date the meter was read.

6. Enter the date the statement was sent.

7. Enter information about the previous bill, including the previous meter reading and the number of days the billing period represented.

8. Enter both usage (consumption in gallons or other units) and cost information.

9. If you don't have an irrigation-only meter, use the available tools to separate indoor usage from outdoor usage. This helps isolate what you as an irrigation water manager can control.

All water bills are tied directly to their associated meter, allowing you to track usage and costs through time and compare against previous billing periods.

Bulk Entry Using Edit All

If you need to enter a backlog of water bill data, the spreadsheet-style entry method provides a faster alternative to the template form.

1. From the Water Bill List, click Edit All.

2. Enter your data directly into the spreadsheet-style interface.

This method allows you to quickly enter multiple bills without navigating through individual templates for each entry. It's particularly useful when you're setting up a new meter and need to enter historical data.

Using Budget Details for Active Monitoring

Once you have water bill information entered, you can use the Budget Details view for day-to-day monitoring. This is the primary interface for actively measuring and tracking water usage.

1. Navigate to Budget Details under the Budget Monitor tab.

2. Add metrics (lines on the graph) by selecting what data you want to display.

3. Choose to display water bills as metrics on the graph.

4. Select your preferred units. While CCF (hundred cubic feet) is common on water bills, gallons may be more intuitive for daily use.

5. Ensure your Budget Monitor units match your water bill units to compare apples to apples.

6. Choose between line graphs or bar graphs for visualization.

The Budget Details view allows you to compare different time periods. For example, you can display baseline usage from one year compared to current year usage to see the percentage of water saved. This makes it easy to track progress in your water management efforts.

Setting Up Water Budgets

In addition to tracking actual water bill data, you can set up water budgets to establish targets and monitor progress against those targets. The system allows you to manage up to three different budgets simultaneously.

1. From Budget Details, click Manage Budget.

2. Define what the budget represents. Common budget types include:

• Pre-WeatherTRAK baseline (what you used before installing WeatherTRAK)
• Target irrigation baseline (what you want to use)
• Weather-normalized budget (adjusted for weather conditions)
• Tier 1 allocation (first tier of a tiered rate structure)
• Tier 2 allocation (second tier threshold)

3. Once the budget is defined and active on your timeline, enter both gallons and dollars for each period.

4. Add the budget as a metric on your graph to compare actual usage against your target.

Using multiple budgets is particularly valuable in areas with tiered rate structures. You can see where you are relative to different tier thresholds and visualize how close you are to triggering penalty rates.

Understanding Tiered Rate Structures

Many water districts use tiered rate structures where customers pay different rates depending on their usage level. Staying under a certain tier can result in significant cost savings, while exceeding a threshold can trigger severe penalties.

Currently, the Budget Monitor does not automatically calculate tiered rates. To track tiered pricing, you need to manually adjust the cost you're paying once you bump up to the next tier. This is a feature being considered for future enhancement.

To work with tiered rates in the current system, set up separate budgets representing each tier threshold. This allows you to visualize where you are relative to each tier and take action before exceeding a costly threshold.

Using Measured Usage from Flow Sensors

In addition to water bill data and budget targets, you can display measured usage data coming directly from flow sensors installed on your controllers.

1. From Budget Details, add Measured Usage as a metric.

2. This metric displays information collected by your flow sensor in real-time.

3. The measured usage updates to reflect the most recent irrigation, including last night's watering.

4. Compare measured usage against your budget to see where you stand.

This provides up-to-date information without waiting for the monthly water bill. For example, if you have a million-gallon monthly budget, you can check mid-month to see that you've used 500,000 gallons and are on track, or that you've used 900,000 gallons and need to make adjustments.

Measured usage is particularly valuable for contractors in the field who need current information to make irrigation decisions. It provides daily updates rather than monthly snapshots.

Demonstrating Water Savings to Customers

When you want to show customers the value of investing in WeatherTRAK, focus on water bill data comparisons.

1. Add two water bill periods as metrics on the graph.

2. Display the baseline period (before WeatherTRAK) and the current period (after WeatherTRAK).

3. The graph will clearly show the percentage of water savings achieved.

This provides a clear, data-driven demonstration of return on investment. Customers can see exactly how much water and money they're saving compared to their previous usage.

Budget Monitoring Report

The Budget Monitoring Report provides a comprehensive overview of all your sites or meters in a single view.

This report displays:

• The budget for each site or meter
• Actual usage for each site or meter
• Comparison showing whether each site is over or under budget
• Customizable columns to display the specific data you need

If you're a contractor offering water management services across a portfolio of properties, this report gives you a quick, up-to-date snapshot of how you're performing on all your budgets. You can identify which sites need attention and which are performing well.

This is an ideal report to set up as a scheduled report that automatically generates and comes to your inbox, eliminating the need to log in to WeatherTRAK.net manually to check status.

Water Usage by Zone Type Report

This report breaks down water usage and costs by zone type, providing insight into where water is being used across the landscape.

The report shows:

• Percentage of water used by each zone type (cool season turf, warm season turf, trees, shrubs, etc.)
• Dollar amount spent on each zone type
• Visual representation of how water budget is allocated

For example, you might see that 79% of water goes to cool season turf. Viewing this information in dollar terms provides a different perspective on water usage and can inform decisions about landscape management or conversion projects.

Budget Comparison Report

The Budget Comparison Report is ideal for board meetings or presentations where you need to demonstrate year-over-year performance.

1. Select two time periods to compare (for example, 2017 vs. 2018).

2. The report displays baseline usage, current usage, and the difference.

3. Savings are clearly shown, making it easy to communicate results.

This report format makes it simple to show stakeholders exactly what was used previously, what is being used now, and the resulting savings in both water volume and cost.

Account-Level Reports

For users who monitor multiple sites, account-level reports provide a high-level view across your entire portfolio.

These reports allow you to:

• See what all sites are doing at once
• Track budgets across multiple properties
• Identify trends or issues that span multiple locations
• Monitor overall water management performance

Account-level reporting is particularly valuable for property management companies, municipalities, or contractors managing water for multiple clients.

Setting Up Scheduled Reports

To automate budget monitoring without having to log in regularly, set up scheduled reports.

1. Navigate to the report you want to receive automatically.

2. Configure the report with the metrics you want to track (budget and measured usage, for example).

3. Set up the report to generate automatically on your preferred schedule.

4. The report will be delivered to your inbox without requiring you to log into WeatherTRAK.net.

This provides automated monitoring while you're focused on other tasks. You can review your budget status from your email without additional steps.

Current Limitations and Future Enhancements

Budget Monitor is a valuable tool, but there are some limitations in the current version and features being considered for future development.

Current limitations:

• No automatic tiered rate calculations (must be adjusted manually when moving between tiers)
• No automatic alerts when approaching budget thresholds
• Budget information is not currently available in the mobile app
• No dynamic budget calculation based on daily microzone ET

Features being considered for future enhancement:

• Automatic tiered rate structure support
• Alerts when reaching 50%, 75%, or 90% of budget
• Mobile app integration for field access to budget information
• Mobile app data entry for water bills
• Calculated landscape irrigation requirement based on ET
• Notifications on mobile devices when approaching budget limits

The Budget Monitor feature hasn't seen extensive development recently because it hasn't received significant user feedback. As water restrictions become more common and budget-based water management becomes more prevalent, this feature is expected to see increased use and continued enhancement.

Best Practices for Budget Monitor

To get the most value from Budget Monitor, consider these best practices:

For contractors: Use Budget Monitor to demonstrate value to customers. Show them concrete water and cost savings through before-and-after comparisons. Set up scheduled reports that automatically document your water management success.

For properties with tiered rates: Set up budgets representing each tier threshold. Monitor measured usage throughout the month rather than waiting for the water bill. This allows you to make adjustments before exceeding costly thresholds.

For portfolio management: Use account-level reports to identify which properties need attention. Set up scheduled reports that give you regular snapshots of all properties without manual data gathering.

For board presentations: Use the Budget Comparison Report to show year-over-year savings. Use the Water Usage by Zone Type Report to show where water dollars are being spent and justify landscape management decisions.

For weekly monitoring: Rather than waiting for monthly water bills, use measured usage from flow sensors to track progress weekly or even daily. This allows for more responsive water management.

For data entry: When setting up a new meter, use the Edit All spreadsheet view to quickly enter historical water bill data. This establishes a baseline for comparison more efficiently than entering bills one at a time through the template.

For unit consistency: Always ensure your Budget Monitor display units match your water bill units. This prevents confusion and ensures accurate comparisons.

Video Walkthrough

Video originally published April 2021.

If you have questions, here are 3 ways to get answers:

1. Search within this WeatherTRAK knowledgebase

2. Visit the WeatherTRAK support page

3. Call 800-362-8774 or email support@hydropoint.com, hours are Mon-Fri 3:00 AM – 6:00 PM PT and Sat 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM PT.