ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA (March 7, 2008) – A smart South Australian water technology company is leading the drive to manage and conserve the State’s precious water resources with the development of a new generation of soil moisture sensors that enable users to save millions of litres of water every year.
AquaSpy Group designs, produces and distributes moisture sensors and smart information technology which saves water, maintains optimum plant health and demonstrates a return on capital investment within a few months.   Today, there are more than 50,000 AquaSpy sensors in use around the world.
“The solution for this perceived water crisis is not about creating new water such as desalination plants. Its about how we better manage the existing water we have,” said AquaSpy Group chief executive Nigel Hennessy.
“Our technology is proven to save 20% - 70% of the water used for irrigation of public open space, turf areas, sport, landscape, urban areas and residential households and ensure the same or better standard of turf and garden appearance than before - by using less water to do more.”
“The community has the opportunity to cut water use, save energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions by being water wise using simple and low cost technology.”
 
This is the fundamental principle behind the State Government’s new guide for watering Adelaide’s public parks and gardens – and its aggressive target of saving three billion litres of water a year.  Minister for Water Security Karlene Maywald launched the initiative on Wednesday after wide consultation among industry participants, including AquaSpy, and the development of a Code of Practice for Irrigating Public Open Space.
A key principle behind the Code of Practice is “Measure, monitor and manage” and this suggests continual monitoring and reporting of water performance and adjusting individual irrigation systems to ensure overwatering does not occur.
Using AquaSpy sensors to measure, the turfgrass manager can monitor and better manage the irrigation to provide water savings of up to 70 per cent, using less water to create the same result. 
AquaSpy probes now lie beneath the Botanical Gardens in Canberra after local authorities saw the potential for water savings of up to 70 per cent. Local authorities in Gosford in New South Wales have installed AquaSpy technology to trial a water saving program across parts of the city.
In Adelaide a number of irrigated public open space are using AquaSpy including Adelaide Shores public golf course at West Lakes and the University of Adelaide in the CBD.
“Water shortages mean the community must become educated about the benefits of better water management. AquaSpy Group is at the forefront of the drive for the efficient use of water,” said Peter Moller, AquaSpy’s Business Development Manager.
AquaSpy technology not only saves water and provides a three dimensional view
of plant root activity - it quantifies the water saved and the power saved to distribute the water across a golf course, the local botanical gardens, an entire suburb or a city.
These savings come with the promise of lower water costs, reduced power costs and a new revenue stream built on reducing greenhouse gases and aggregating carbon credits.
The equation is relatively simple. Water is a very heavy commodity.  Every cubic
metre of water weighs one tonne. An average city is looking at saving between 20 to 30% of water that is used to irrigate its parks, gardens and sports fields.
When water is saved there is a direct relationship (1:1) to energy saved as energy is used to transport, deliver and pressurize water used in irrigation.
That equates to a megawatts of power that is not required for that city’s average water consumption. That represents a significant saving in potential greenhouse gases.
Between its Adelaide head office and operations in the United States, AquaSpy Group employs 40 staff in the technology, sales and commercial development fields.
For more information visit AquaSpy’s website at www.aquaspy.com or contact Richard Sproull at Michels Warren on 08 8267 6888 or 0418 585 517