Project Profiles – Geyser Falls Water Theme Park - Choctaw, Mississippi

IMMS™ Central Control Helps Water Park Create Lush Landscape

Since its release, the Irrigation Management and Monitoring System™ (IMMS™) has been installed at numerous sites across the country while orders for more systems are being taken daily.

From So Cal to Beantown, from the Great Northwest to the Gulf Coast, the reviews have all been “thumbs up” as customers who have recently installed the IMMS rave about the speed and ease of installation and the simplicity in learning the functions of the software.

Here’s just one example of how customers who never thought they could afford the cost of – or simply didn’t want to spend that much on – a central control system are benefiting from the new IMMS.

Managing Water Efficiently

With thousands and thousands of gallons of water rushing through tubes and slides and drops, Geyser Falls Water Park would seem like the last place that would need to worry about having enough H₂O to keep their greenery from getting dry.

A casual observer might ask: With all that water, is an irrigation system even necessary?

Well, first of all, that water in all of the rides is filled with chlorine and other chemicals to keep it fresh and safe for paying customers to splash around in. It’s not the type of water that would be used for irrigation purposes. So, believe it or not, with all that water everywhere, it’s still essential to have an irrigation control system that will ensure that all turf and vegetation will receive the proper amount of the proper type of water.

A 15-acre, $20 million themed facility designed to appeal to all ages, Geyser Falls features 12 major waterslides, boasting such fun-sounding names as BackSplash!, Pipes Peak and Mt. Everwet.

Geyser Falls is just the first phase in a major expansion of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ Pearl River Resort’s offerings. Pearl River already features two casino/hotels and a pair of 18-hole golf courses. Future plans include an adjacent white sand lagoon with snorkeling trails, paddle boats and beach club, a 280-acre (113-hectare) lake stocked with fish and a 250-room hotel that would be located next to the water park.

Easy To Implement, Easy to Use

It’s clear that a property as expansive as Geyser Falls would benefit from a irrigation management system that could control everything from a single location. But until the IMMS was introduced, such a system would be extremely costly…and would no doubt include a host of “bells and whistles” that would not be needed at Geyser Falls, yet would be included in a system’s price.

“We have long been a ceritified contractor with a competitor’s control system, having installed their units at a variety of projects over the years,” said Clay Stewart, owner of Stewart Environmental Construction of Tupelo, Mississippi, the company that handled installation of the irrigation system at Geyser Falls. “So, naturally, we considered installing their central control system for the job first.”

Stewart had used Hunter rotors, sprays, valves and controllers on many commercial and sport field projects and said he had always been very pleased with the products. He had not used a central control system from Hunter simply because the company didn’t have one.

“Based on my satisfaction with their other products, we figured we’d at least check out a control system from Hunter,” he said. “In particular, we looked at the simplicity of the IMMS from the owner’s and contractor’s viewpoint. It just seemed to be a very usable solution to centralizing a large irrigation system.”

There are close to 400 rotors (approx. 100 PGP®, 200 PGM and 80 I-25) and about 1,600 spray heads (400 of the 6" Pro-Spray® and 1,200 of the 12"). The system also includes 62 ICV-200 valves with Filter Sentry™ and 30 1" HQ quick coupler valves.

“It’s all run by a pair of ICC 40-station controllers,” added Stewart.

Stewart and his crew were impressed with the simplicity of both the installation and the programming, and the easy to understand and user-friendly programs.

“I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get the IMMS up and running,” said Clay Scruggs, crew supervisor for Stewart Engineering and the person responsible for the system’s installation. “Setting up the main components – the Central Control Computer, Site Interface, Controller Interface, and all related sensors – took approximately 3-4 hours…and this included the programming of the IMMS.

“The competition’s system would have taken three times that long just to program!”

The contractor and his team were happy with the results that IMMS provided. How about their client: the friendly folks at Geyser Falls?

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the Hunter IMMS,” said Greg Mullen, maintenance manager for Geyser Falls. “We figured that an irrigation management system would cost us two, three or four times more than what IMMS cost. This product gave us exactly what we needed and for a price we can live with.”

Hunter IMMS – an affordable and simplistic option for central control.