Being in the right place at the right time is important for anybody looking to get the edge on the competition. Students at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. are definitely in the right place. If you are a student at HMC you are guaranteed a top-notch education and hot job prospects. The average salary upon graduation was nearly $50,000. The campus is a beautiful place, located in the heart of California?EUR??,,????'???s Inland Empire. To make the campus this way, it is important for the irrigation system to be on in the right place at the right time. Nearly two years ago a new centralized computer system has cut water usage by more than 17,000 gallons and saved the college nearly $5,000 according to an institution report. The school installed the Rain Bird Maxicom system. The system uses a small on-campus weather station and other devices to detect air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind force and the amount of water evaporation given off by the plants and soil. Based on projected savings, the $100,000 Maxicom system could pay for itself in less than six years. HMC shares a seven-college campus with the Claremont Graduate University, Keck Graduate Institute for Applied Life Sciences, Claremont McKenna, Pomona Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. In all they encompass 175 buildings, on over 550 acres. HMC is a coeducational institution of engineering, science, and mathematics. The System The control system is designed for wide-ranging large residences, commercial and industrial applications. An unlimited number of sites and weather sources can be controlled and monitored from one location through telephone, radio, cellular telephone, hardwire or fiber-optic communication. From the central controller, irrigation systems at multiple sites can be scheduled for days to water, run times, cyclical scheduling, linking schedules, sensor starts, cycle and soak schedules and more. Irrigation schedules can be individually adjusted to allow accounting for plant types, environmental condition, seasonality, germination, and fertilization. According to Brian Ries, Product Manager for Rain Bird, the system is a Windows-based software, making the installation of the system by a landscape/irrigation contractor somewhat simple. ?EUR??,,????'??Initial setup can take a while, ?EUR??,,????'?? Ries said. ?EUR??,,????'??Setting up communications and how the system will talk with the components can be difficult initially.?EUR??,,????'?? Ries added that most of the system is setup with selection options. For example, an option will be displayed asking how many satellite controllers are attached and the user can then designate which kind may be used. The company also offers training courses at their Tucson, Ariz. Headquarters. Two day courses dedicated to learning this system are available for beginners all the way up to learning how run detailed control schedules and remote control. Station operating times can be automatically adjusted in response to changing daily evapotranspiration values supplied by a Weather Station. The Cycle+Soak(tm) feature optimizes the watering of poor drainage sites, slopes and heavy oil areas. Water is applied at or below soil intake rates automatically, even during high water-use periods. The technology available to the irrigation installer makes saving water and money easier than ever before. Whether it is a large campus community, commercial center or residence, no matter the place, now is the right time for water conservation.