Mountain House, CA
United States
Site Profile
The Mountain House master-planned community is located in the vast Central Valley of California, between fertile agricultural lands and flowing delta waters. Spanning several square miles outside of the city of Tracy, Mountain House is built with efficiency and self-sufficiency in mind. The community boasts an array of amenities including schools, parks, trails, and a library. Mountain House borrows its name from a historic Gold Rush-era waystation about two miles to the northeast, which was established as a stop for eager miners hoping to strike it rich in Gold Country.
Adjacent to the high school is a large strip of turf between the sidewalk and roadway that serves as an important safety buffer for students and pedestrians. The strip is up to 12' wide in places and spans the length of the property. The site is exposed to strong winds, summer temperatures in excess of 100°F, and is surrounded by asphalt and concrete. The high-traffic space requires regular watering without overspray onto walkways, roads, and people. As a public area, vandalism is a concern. Finally, in meeting with established standards for efficiency in the resource-conscious community, water waste had to be kept to a minimum.
To ensure a healthy and water-efficient landscape, installers turned to the innovative Eco-Mat subsurface fleece mat. Designed for hard-to-irrigate spaces, Eco-Mat uses a specially engineered combination of inline emitter tubing and synthetic fleece that disperses water evenly from under the surface. Eco-Mat was selected for its proven ability to provide plants with the exact amount of needed water to survive in the tough conditions of the Central Valley. Since water is never present on the surface, high-traffic turf areas can be used throughout the day without budgeting time for overhead irrigation or worrying about vandalism. Eco-Mat also protects surrounding buildings and hardscape from damage due to overspray or runoff.
Eco-Mat has ensured a thick, healthy lawn that can be used anytime by pedestrians while providing water savings upwards of 60% compared to traditional overhead sprays. Mountain House has flourished over the years and now boasts a population of more than 20,000. Smart design and the use of water-efficient Eco-Mat subsurface irrigation make Mountain House not only a desirable community with beautiful and safe green spaces, but one that goes the extra mile to take irrigation efficiency to the highest level.