Welcome to the Design Software page of Water Management Specialists
This page is dedicated to the Water Management Specialists Irrigation Design Software which we commonly refer to as "IDA" or Irrigation Design Assistant. This design software was developed by an irrigation designer for other irrigation designers. As the name implies, it is an "assistant to the designer. The software will follow the convention of the of the design process from the beginning to the end.
This Irrigation Design Assistant software will ....
Reduce your design time by up 60% regardless if you are using a CAD type of software or using a drafting table. The IDA (Irrigation Design Assistant) walks you through the entire irrigation design process from establishment of the flow capacity of your water source to the irrigation schedule and hydraulic statement. If you are in the State of Texas, you are regulated by the state agency called the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This agency, via the State of Texas, has a complete list of mandatory design requirements. This irrigation design software will comply with all phases of the TCEQ requirements. If you are doing irrigation design work outside of the State of Texas then this software will assist you in designing one of the most water and cost efficient irrigation systems possible.
The IDA software will utilize several key items that the user will select via "Pull Down Menus" in the design process. As each additional piece of data is selected by the user, the software provides more and more answers and guidance in the design process. Listed below are some of the key items the user will select or input, and the software will then use this information to calculate values used in the design process automatically.
 | WATER SOURCES |
The IDA will determine the most optimum GPM flow rates utilizing water meters based on AWWA flow values for High or Low water pressures. (Commonly called the 75% rule or 10% rule). In addition the software will offers the user the options of pump flows GPM, water wells, or the average velocity rule through designated pipe.
The flow rates are calculated based on multiple factors including static water pressure, elevation, meter size, city main size, HP of pump, holding capacity of storage tanks, usage of "Cycle-Stop Valves"(tm)
| STATIC PRESSURE |
The static pressure value will determine the optimum method to utilize in determining the available GPM of the water meter. In addition, the user will input known elevations on the project and the software will automatically determine the impact on the design process, the hydraulics, and the water meter capacity. This information will also assist the user in pre-calculating the potential "ADJUSTED DYNAMIC PRESSURE" so that a product can be selected from the manufactures catalogs
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MICRO CLIMATES |
The IDA offers seven (7) pre-determined micro-climates and seven (7) fully customizable user defined micro-climates
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WATER WINDOW |
The IDA has fully modifiable "Watering Window" function which will allow the user to establish a complete schedule based on:
Purveyor allowed Days, Hours, or Gallons
Client allowed Days, Hours, or Gallons
Exemptions such as "Drip", Non-Potable, or second source
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EVAPO-TRANSPIRATION |
The IDA offers two options for determining ET or Evapo-Transpiration. There is a Texas published historical data base that provides 55 cities with a "30" year historical data base or there is a user defined data base.
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PRODUCT SELECTION |
The end user will select their preferred product from "pull down menus" . This information will allow the software to match application with micro-climates, code requirements, ET Rates to Precip Rates, or any other user or client required input
Once this and much more information is selected or determined, the software can then begin to perform it's Irrigation Design Assistance.
The software will follow a convention of steps that all irrigators will follow in the design process. These steps also use a building block format, in that the information obtained or calculated in one step is then used in solving or addressing the next step in the irrigation design process.
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HEAD SPACING |
This section will allow the irrigation designer to break the project into different logical areas. The user will then input the length and width of the area they are attempting to irrigate and then select the Micro-Climate they are designing to. The software will then determine the most efficient actual head placement for the Head and Row spacing down to the nearest 10th of an inch. It will provide the user with multiple options of product at their disposal that will fit in the areas and micro-climates that were previously selected. If an application will not work, it will be reflected as N/A for that application. The end user can either use the manual mode or allow the software to make the decision of the head selection automatically. This process is utilized for spray, rotor, rotator, and drip applications.
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ZONING |
The software will automatically determine the total number of zones required, how many and which micro climates are needed, as well as the optimum GPM for each zone. (The user has the option to do a "What - If" function to look at the forecasted results of utilizing a second meter or alternative water source.) The user will then build each specific zone with the software providing guidance with information such as maximum GPM per zone, GPM of heads available for each specific micro-climates, actual head spacing for each product in the micro-climate (Calculated from the HEAD SPACING function). The valve sizing for the zone will be determined here, again it will be either an automatic or user selected function.
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HYDRAULIC CALCULATIONS |
The software has two options here as well. One is automatic and the other is a user input. In the automatic mode the software will select the largest zone in GPM flow and will assist in the majority of all the hydraulic calculations. It will assist the user in the progressive pipe sizing for the worst case scenario. The user will simply select the type of pipe from a "pull down" menu and then input the actual GPM and length of each section of pipe and the software will automatically size the pipe based on 5LFS and will determine the actual friction loss utilizing the "Williams-Hazen" formula for friction loss. The software will automatically size the main line and calculate the friction loss for this. The user can select to use a "Looped Main", and the software will size and perform all the hydraulic calculations on this as well. The backflow device will be automatically selected. The software will automatically calculate the friction loss for the water meter, elevations (Gained or Lost) valves, and any other miscellaneous items the user has. The software will calculate the DESIGN pressure, ACTUAL HEAD pressure, and automatically generate a "HYDRAULIC STATEMENT" that will comply with any local or state regulatory agency. If the hydraulic calculation determines the system has failed, it will indicate by how much. It also has automated information data sets the user can select to address excessive pressures that may put the system out of compliance to some state codes, such as TCEQ in Texas.
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ET BASED IRRIGATION SCHEDULE |
The software will automatically generate an Annual ET-Based Irrigation Schedule for all the zones. The software automatically calculated the actual Precipitation Rate in the Zoning section and applied the Watering Window data, ET Data, and Micro-climate data. In the event the schedule violates the defined Watering Window, the software will adjust the schedule to accommodate the Watering Window. In the event this is done, the software will define which areas where adjusted, and by how much. This allows the user to approve or modify the changes. The software provides the schedule in minutes per day, frequency, and per cycle as well as providing a percentage of monthly adjustment.
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WATER RATES |
The software provides the user with four different methods of determining the actual water cost per gallon from their purveyor. These processes include water, water and sewer, and irrigation water. In addition it will provide for per gallon, per cubic foot, average monthly, flow combined water and sewage tier rates, water tier rates, or user define values.
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WATER COSTING |
The software will automatically calculate the Daily and Monthly water cost and GPM flow rates for each zone based on the Highest ET rate for the year and the water cost determined in the previous sections. This gives the user and the end client a working knowledge of the worst case operational cost of the system both in dollars and gallons.
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BIDDING AND ESTIMATING |
The bidding and estimating section is comprised of two sections. The first section the user will input up to five (5) vendors of parts. There is a complete section with "Pull Down Menus" for product selection, as well as user defined sections. The end user will input their specific costs for each of these items. In addition, they have the option of inputting "time and motion" rates into the software as well as other key costs. The software will then do a material take-off all the key components except for pipe and wire. The software will prompt the user in key areas for specific data input and will then provide a complete material take off and costing for the system. The user can select pricing from a single vendor or for the best price from all the vendors. This is a very robust section that will provide the user with a very powerful financial bidding package. (This section will be interactive with Auto-Cad(tm) in the 2012 update version. This update version will also allow all of the data from this software package to be imported into Microsoft Access(tm) for relational analysis.)
The software has multiple other functions that are independent of the automatic process listed above. These include:
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A complete digital Velocity chart which will calculate velocity in any type of pipe at any pipe flow |
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A complete digital Friction Loss chart which will calculate friction loss of any type of pipe at any GPM flow |
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A complete "Reference Formula" page that has 18 different calculators that range from SLOPE calculations to ACRE FOOT Calculations. In addition, it has a automatic Head Placement calculator |
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A "Stand-Alone" drip calculator that will determine optimum spacing for in line tubing and single source emitters. This will also determine actual linear foot of drip tubing needed, including the number of rows needed |
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A LQDU (Lower Quarter Distribution Uniformity) calculator that will calculate the DU of an area based on catch can data |
The software is truly a Irrigation Design Assistant that will assist all irrigators from the "Rookie" irrigator to the most seasoned designer. It is built around 2007 Microsoft Excel(tm) platform so there is not a compatibility problem. This allows you to create client files and store them as well as merge data into other Microsoft applications. You will need to have a current licensed version of 2007 Microsoft Excel(tm) or later.
COST: $350.00 with two free updates.
The software takes up approximately 22MB of memory and is provided on a USB Drive
The scheduled updates are done in December and March. These updates include any additions to the software, new product updates or changes, ET Data Sets, etc.)