FROM HUNTER INDUSTRIES, STEVE PALLAS

March 29, 2022

 Safe Water Commission’s “Residential Smart Irrigation Program for Cities” was something that Hunter 

Industries was involved with from the beginning prior to its pilot program in 2020.  Based on my 

decades of experience in the irrigation industry, I helped them determine the best way to program 

the Hyrdrawise controllers and the appropriate items to notate during the Yard Evaluation or 

“Simple Field Audit”.

Hunter Industries also helped Safe Water Commission interface with our Hunter IT specialist to 

connect the field data obtained from the Hyrdawise system for each controller in their program to 

Safe Water’s IT database.

By installing a smart controller with properly set programs and runtimes, educating the residents 

on a one-by-one basis on how to operate their controller, and recommendations for improvements by 

their contractor, and the robust quantitative approach to calculating actual water savings, this 

program is unique in my 13-state region, located in the upper Midwest, and probably in the United 

States.

Sincerely,

Steve Pallas, CLIA Midwest Sales Manager Hunter Industries

HUNTER INDUSTRIES, INC.

1940 Diamond Street | San Marcos, California 92078 | U.S.A

+1 760-744-5240 Main | +1 760-744-7461 Fax | www.hunterindustries.com

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FROM JON EATON, CITY OF EAGAN UTILITY SUPERVISOR

March 25, 2022

Re: Vanguard Award, Irrigation Association

The City of Eagan partnered with Safe Water Commission and Hunter Industries in 2021 to promote an 

innovative Smart Irrigation Program (SIP) to reduce irrigation water consumption.

The City communicated the program to residents and businesses on the city website (with links to 

the on-line application), in other communications (like the City newsletter and social media), and 

supported the program with customer rebates.

Safe Water Commission performed the simple irrigation system audits and yard evaluations, 

controller replacements, advanced controller programming, and suggested additional ways to save 

water (like rain sensors, head repairs and/or replacements, etc.).

The program benefits to the resident or business were:

•     Work performed by a professional, licensed contractor

•     Personalized evaluation and education of their irrigation system

•     A report of the findings, recommended improvements, and detailed water and cost savings

•     Ongoing customer support by Hunter and Safe Water Commission

The program benefits to the City were:

•     Data was gathered to help the city quantify and demonstrate a cost savings

•     A professional, positive service was provided to the property owner/operator

•     Significant water was saved; the average annual water saved was estimated to be 35% or 

approximately 70,000 gallons.

The City of Eagan continues to encourage the Smart Irrigation Program because of its logical water 

conservation approach, training of recipients, detailed reporting, but most importantly because of 

the significant water and cost savings to both the customer and the City.

Sincerely, Jon Eaton

Utility Superintendent

2020 Testimonial for the Residential Smart Irrigation Program for Stillwater

I participated in the Smart Irrigation Program in coordination with the Safe Water Commission and the Stillwater Board of Water Commissioners. I had received a postcard in the mail and my first thought was the deal seemed almost too good to be true but I am happy to say that it's truly legit and is an awesome deal! I had really enjoyed working with Rick Ellis from Safe Water Commission who took care of the online program setup and Nick from Superior Landscaping and Irrigation who did the irrigation assessment and also installed the Hunter controller. Both Rick and Nick were super great guys to work with and they took care of everything for me. Our family is thrilled about being a better steward of our irrigation water use and with the ease and effectiveness of the Wi-Fi enabled Hunter controller and optional rain sensor we also had installed, the anticipated water (and cost) savings will be significant. Thank you again, Rick and Nick for making this such a great experience. I am more than happy to strongly recommend them so that others are able to take advantage of this awesome program as well!
Andrew T., Stillwater

Click to view the SIP Pilot Program HERE