Irrigation Mats Save Walmart Millions of Gallons of Water

Walmart is using WaterPulse irrigation mats to reduce the amount of water used in about 3,700 of the retailer’s garden centers inside its stores across the US.

The mats are saving “millions of gallons of water,” while improving plant quality, says Marybeth Hays, senior vice president of Outdoor Living and Home for Walmart US.

WaterPulse says its commercial grade capillary action mat system cuts water use in both retail horticulture outlets and greenhouses and nurseries by up to 70 percent.

Before the mats, Walmart associates would manually water the thousands of plants sold in an average garden center. Today, the mats do all the work. Water savings come from the capillary action of the mats, which enables the soil to take in the water it needs.

To date, Walmart has installed more than 500,000 Retail Mats with Vortex Injector systems — in excess of 7.3 million square feet of WaterPulse mats. The company plans to deploy WaterPulse mats in new garden centers as they are built.