Irrigation Systems Evaluation for Living Walls

Abstract

Living walls are becoming popular solutions to alleviate negative effects of urban development. They are vertical greening systems that allow vegetation to spread across a wall surface to cover a building facade or an interior wall. Because of their characteristics, irrigation becomes essential, but the infrastructure and management required differ from a regular irrigation system. This study aims to evaluate the influence of variables such as the type of substrate used, emitter flow rates, and drip line and emitter spacing on the system performance in terms of water losses and irrigation uniformity. The results show that the main differences are marked by the type of substrate used and the emitter flow rate. Higher flows are recommended when using recirculation systems, as more uniformity is achieved in spite of the higher runoff losses. In “run-to-waste” systems, the use of lower flows and short irrigation lengths (increasing the frequency) is advised. Some management recommendations such as irrigation lengths are also provided.