COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene is getting smart with water usage at Person Field.

Crews are two weeks away from completing the installation of a $75,000 irrigation system, which was included in a master plan for the park approved by city officials last year. Parks Superintendent Bill Greenwood said when the system is installed everything can be controlled through a laptop.

"It's a very cool system," Greenwood said. "We have it in about 12 parks throughout the city."

The installation is being completed by Clearwater Summit Group Inc., a Spokane-based company with a large presence in North Idaho. Greenwood told The Press that the company has worked with the city on past projects, and was the lowest bidder for the irrigation project.

"We sent that out to a bunch of different firms and I talked with everyone I could that has local representation," he added. "Some of those firms didn't even want to bid on it and others were too high. They were the only ones that were really in line with our price."

The system has an evaporation/transpiration meter that registers how much water the bluegrass field is using, as well as how much of the used water is evaporating. Greenwood said once the system is tweaked, it can automatically make changes in water output.

"You don't overwater and you don't under-water," he said.

A rain bucket, which measures the amount of precipitation in the area, enables the system to shut off on its own once a certain level is reached, Greenwood said.

"Sometimes it might rain a little bit, but it's not quite enough," he added. "The system knows to give it some water, but not as much because mother nature gave us a little."

Once the irrigation installation is completed, Person Field will reopen to the public. However, Greenwood said, park visitors might notice watering going on during the day for new seed that will be laid down over the trenches dug for the system.

"Junior Tackle starts their two-a-days in August so we've got to get something going with those trenches," Greenwood said.