The average rainfall deficit in France for the summer of 2023 is estimated at -29%, according to a weather channel. Many departments are preparing to apply the drought alert thresholds. When the highest thresholds are activated, the reinforced alert or crisis thresholds, prefects can decide to ban watering lawns, shrubberies and green spaces.
Urba-sens, a company based in Versailles in the Paris region, offers support to professionals faced with such situations, thanks to the use of a drip system equipped with an innovative, intelligent device. This involves installing tensio-metric probes in the roots to measure the water actually available to the plant. The sensor will measure the moisture content of the soil, and the data will be collected via a stand-alone device called Mini-sense, then sent to Urbasens to be processed so that the company can provide a personalized watering bulletin.
Michaël Fayaud, co-founder of Urbasens, explains that we used to water the city’s trees 10 to 12 times a year. With the help of sensors and a few years experience, we’ve observed that trees actually need six or seven watering, not 12 as we used to do. Thanks to this daily monitoring of plantations, the founder of Urbasens estimates that customers can save up to 60% on water consumption.
The company also provides customers with an application that enables them to monitor the condition of their plantations and adapt watering accordingly. The engineer in charge of contacting customers explains that the app displays green when the situation is good. If we see that watering isn’t being done, we switch to orange. And then, if after three or four weeks, even though we’ve recommended watering, we still don’t see it, we switch to alert and call the customer. This watering system, designed for professionals such as local authorities, site managers and landscapers, is available for €700.
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