By Elizabeth Cutright
How’d you like to save 600,000 acre-feet of water per year? What if I told you achieving that savings doesn’t involve looking for new sources, but rather, by implementing some simple smart irrigation techniques and technologies? That’s the case in California, according to testimony by Dr. Peter H. Gleick to the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Committee on Natural Resources of the US House of Representatives.
Many communities have already experienced the dramatic results achieved by implementing an intelligent irrigation program. In April, I attended The Intelligent Use of Water Summit, in Washington DC, where I got the chance to hear success stories from a panel of water efficiency professionals gathered by Rain Bird to discuss how smart irrigation should be an integral part of any water resource management plan.
Starting off in the arid West, Doug Bennett, Conservation Manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) explained that, although Las Vegas sits in the arid southwest corner of one of the country’s driest regions, the city sustains itself with 4.5 inches of rain and a 2% allotment from the Colorado River. And all those resorts and casinos which rise up out of the desert like a water-hungry mirage? Bennett says they account for less than 3% of the city’s consumptive use; due in large part to the city’s proactive water conservation programs involving smart irrigation techniques and technologies. The SNWA’s innovative smart irrigation program includes a 50% landscaping limit on all new residential properties, a ban on ornamental lawns for all non-residential development, the conversion of over 35 million square feet of lawn to smart landscaping, and a partnership with the landscaping industry that includes education and certification for smart landscape irrigation professionals.
The success of programs similar to those espoused by the SNWA is being mimicked across the Southwest and California. For example, Paul Goble, public works director for the City of Indian Wells, CA, discussed how the city was able to reduce water consumption by 60% (1.8 million gallons per month) through an integrated water consumption approach to irrigation that includes sprinkler spacing, native plants, pressure regulated sprinklerheads, and smart controllers. And in the Inland Empire, Elizabeth Hurst, Director of Conservation, discussed how the creation of a Landscape Alliance made up of city planners, stormwater managers, and landscape professionals, resulted in the successful implementation of a pilot landscape rebate program with over 130 participants.
Mark Rissen, PhD, P.E., from the University of Georgia, set out the factors that lead that state’s current water crisis; including rapid population growth, interstate water disputes, and a series of devastating droughts stretching from 1981 to 2009. Adding to the stress is a recent court judgment ordering the state to discontinue withdrawals from Lake Lanier–which provides Atlanta with 60% of its water–within the next three years. But as one of the first states east of the Mississippi River to implement a Water Conservation Implementation plan, Georgia is on the road to recovery. And key to their success is a smart irrigation program that focuses on educating users about conservation, providing a method for irrigation professionals to achieve water smart proficiency through state certification.
In Missouri, the issue is not lack of water, but the need to manage a water surplus wisely. With 100,000 miles of stream, the Deer Creek Watershed must contend with flooding, erosion, and water quality issues. As panelist Karla Wilson from Ecoworks Unlimited explained, the Deer Creek Watershed Alliance (a project of the Missouri Botanical Garden) was created as a way encourage citizens in the area to become involved with water resource management. With 21 different municipalities participating, the Alliance has embarked on an ambitious program, designed to manage stormwater runoff by mimicking pre-development hydrology, a significant aspect of which involves switching out grass for native plants.
The panel session finished with a series of questions we should all be asking: Where are we in terms of the water crisis? How can we use this crisis as a “catalyst for change?” What is the real price of water, and how do we manage those imbedded costs and their impact on our conveyance infrastructure? What role can technology play when it comes to water resource management, and are we equipped to utilize the new tools and products designed to conserve water and use it efficiently?
July is “Smart Irrigation Month,” a time “for the industry to promote a history of innovation and drive public awareness of the value of irrigation–from crop production to functional green spaces.” Now is the time for all of us to rally “˜round intelligent irrigation by following in the footsteps of the successful communities mentioned above and changing irrigation from a problem of demand versus supply, to a resource management tool and water conservation solution.
Elizabeth Cutright is a previous editor of Water Efficiency.
