Sprinkle and Irrigate With WaterSense
The EPA’s WaterSense irrigation partners help customers use their heads more efficiently.
Does a drive around your community reveal sprinklers watering sidewalks? Are sprinkler heads automatically activated, even during rainstorms? With more than 35 states expecting water shortages in the next decade, this problem is contributing to stresses on local water supplies.
Landscape irrigation accounts for about one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons a day nationwide. Experts estimate that more than 50% of commercial and residential irrigation water is lost due to evaporation, wind, or over-watering, which in part can result from poorly designed, installed, or maintained irrigation systems. Once an expensive “add-on” to high-end homes, underground watering systems have become a standard feature in new homes in the past decade.
Because landscape irrigation can account for 30% to 70% of a household’s water use, the EPA’s WaterSense program provides a vehicle for communities and utilities to promote water-efficient landscape irrigation services and products. In 2006, the EPA launched WaterSense to help enhance the market for water-efficient products, programs, and practices. WaterSense is working with residential and commercial irrigation professionals around the country to help ease the demand of residential and community irrigation systems on local water supplies.
It’s All in Their Heads
Here’s how it works. In October 2006, WaterSense started labeling certification programs for landscape irrigation designers, auditors, and installation/maintenance professionals who demonstrate knowledge of water efficiency principles and applications. To earn the WaterSense label, programs must meet the EPA’s specifications and test for knowledge about plant/water relationships, appropriate system design and scheduling, and other issues related to water budget and use. Once a certification program has been labeled, the EPA invites professionals who complete the certification to become WaterSense partners. By doing so, these professionals demonstrate their commitment to designing, auditing, installing, and maintaining water-efficient irrigation systems.
Since the EPA issued its final specifications, four programs sponsored by the Irrigation Association have earned the WaterSense label—the Certified Irrigation Contractor, Certified Irrigation Designer, Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor, and Certified Golf Irrigation Auditor programs. Since February 2007, more than 200 professionals certified through these programs have become WaterSense partners. Many more are expected to participate as the programs bring on new certified professionals and launch renewal campaigns later this year. Figure 1 shows the distribution of WaterSense irrigation partners across the United States.
When certified irrigation professionals choose to become WaterSense partners, they receive tools and resources from the EPA helping them explain the importance of water efficiency to their customers and promote their services as WaterSense partners. These individuals can be your ambassadors to the public to encourage water-efficient irrigation. The EPA also publishes a list of WaterSense irrigation partners on its Web site (www.epa.gov/watersense) to help landscape managers and customers find certified professionals.
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| Figure 2. A WaterSense Bill Stuffer |
Since wasteful watering practices are common in every community, you might consider encouraging local landscapers and residents to contract with WaterSense irrigation partners. Communities, utilities, and water districts interested in promoting efficient use of water resources can become promotional partners with the EPA through WaterSense. Promotional partners have access to numerous resources to help encourage residents to practice water efficiency at home and hire WaterSense irrigation partners to design, install, or service their in-ground systems. For example, WaterSense created bill stuffers (see Figure 2) that utilities can include in mailings with customer invoices to educate consumers.
More Than a Drop in the Bucket
The EPA estimates that if homeowners with irrigation systems used WaterSense irrigation partners to perform regular maintenance, they could reduce their annual irrigation water use by about 15%. If even one out of every 10 homes with landscape irrigation systems consulted with these certified irrigation professionals and incorporated water saving techniques, we could save nearly 22 billion gallons of water per year—enough to fill 33,000 community swimming pools.
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In the future, WaterSense plans to release a draft specification for one category of landscape irrigation products—weather- or sensor-based irrigation control technologies. This will include soil moisture sensors, which tell the system to operate only when water is actually needed, and weather-based irrigation controllers, which use local weather and landscape conditions to tailor irrigation schedules to conditions on the site. These products allow systems to apply water in a way that more closely matches the water requirements of plants. The EPA will work with its irrigation partners to finalize both efficiency and performance criteria for these products and hopes to have the WaterSense label ready for irrigation products in 2008.
In the meantime, the EPA encourages you to use WaterSense as a tool in your overall efforts to reduce landscape water demand in your region. Encouraging local residents, businesses, landscapers, and developers to consult WaterSense irrigation partners ensures they will be working with professionals who understand the importance of and the methods for using water more efficiently. To learn more about water-efficient irrigation activities or to join WaterSense, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.
November-December 2007
Sprinkle and Irrigate With WaterSense
The EPA’s WaterSense irrigation partners help customers use their heads more efficiently.
Does a drive around your community reveal sprinklers watering sidewalks? Are sprinkler heads automatically activated, even during rainstorms? With more than 35 states expecting water shortages in the next decade, this problem is contributing to stresses on local water supplies.
Landscape irrigation accounts for about one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons a day nationwide. Experts estimate that more than 50% of commercial and residential irrigation water is lost due to evaporation, wind, or over-watering, which in part can result from poorly designed, installed, or maintained irrigation systems. Once an expensive “add-on” to high-end homes, underground watering systems have become a standard feature in new homes in the past decade.
Because landscape irrigation can account for 30% to 70% of a household’s water use, the EPA’s WaterSense program provides a vehicle for communities and utilities to promote water-efficient landscape irrigation services and products. In 2006, the EPA launched WaterSense to help enhance the market for water-efficient products, programs, and practices. WaterSense is working with residential and commercial irrigation professionals around the country to help ease the demand of residential and community irrigation systems on local water supplies.
It’s All in Their Heads
Here’s how it works. In October 2006, WaterSense started labeling certification programs for landscape irrigation designers, auditors, and installation/maintenance professionals who demonstrate knowledge of water efficiency principles and applications. To earn the WaterSense label, programs must meet the EPA’s specifications and test for knowledge about plant/water relationships, appropriate system design and scheduling, and other issues related to water budget and use. Once a certification program has been labeled, the EPA invites professionals who complete the certification to become WaterSense partners. By doing so, these professionals demonstrate their commitment to designing, auditing, installing, and maintaining water-efficient irrigation systems.
Since the EPA issued its final specifications, four programs sponsored by the Irrigation Association have earned the WaterSense label—the Certified Irrigation Contractor, Certified Irrigation Designer, Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor, and Certified Golf Irrigation Auditor programs. Since February 2007, more than 200 professionals certified through these programs have become WaterSense partners. Many more are expected to participate as the programs bring on new certified professionals and launch renewal campaigns later this year. Figure 1 shows the distribution of WaterSense irrigation partners across the United States.
When certified irrigation professionals choose to become WaterSense partners, they receive tools and resources from the EPA helping them explain the importance of water efficiency to their customers and promote their services as WaterSense partners. These individuals can be your ambassadors to the public to encourage water-efficient irrigation. The EPA also publishes a list of WaterSense irrigation partners on its Web site (www.epa.gov/watersense) to help landscape managers and customers find certified professionals.
|
| Figure 2. A WaterSense Bill Stuffer |
Since wasteful watering practices are common in every community, you might consider encouraging local landscapers and residents to contract with WaterSense irrigation partners. Communities, utilities, and water districts interested in promoting efficient use of water resources can become promotional partners with the EPA through WaterSense. Promotional partners have access to numerous resources to help encourage residents to practice water efficiency at home and hire WaterSense irrigation partners to design, install, or service their in-ground systems. For example, WaterSense created bill stuffers (see Figure 2) that utilities can include in mailings with customer invoices to educate consumers.
More Than a Drop in the Bucket
The EPA estimates that if homeowners with irrigation systems used WaterSense irrigation partners to perform regular maintenance, they could reduce their annual irrigation water use by about 15%. If even one out of every 10 homes with landscape irrigation systems consulted with these certified irrigation professionals and incorporated water saving techniques, we could save nearly 22 billion gallons of water per year—enough to fill 33,000 community swimming pools.
In the future, WaterSense plans to release a draft specification for one category of landscape irrigation products—weather- or sensor-based irrigation control technologies. This will include soil moisture sensors, which tell the system to operate only when water is actually needed, and weather-based irrigation controllers, which use local weather and landscape conditions to tailor irrigation schedules to conditions on the site. These products allow systems to apply water in a way that more closely matches the water requirements of plants. The EPA will work with its irrigation partners to finalize both efficiency and performance criteria for these products and hopes to have the WaterSense label ready for irrigation products in 2008.
In the meantime, the EPA encourages you to use WaterSense as a tool in your overall efforts to reduce landscape water demand in your region. Encouraging local residents, businesses, landscapers, and developers to consult WaterSense irrigation partners ensures they will be working with professionals who understand the importance of and the methods for using water more efficiently. To learn more about water-efficient irrigation activities or to join WaterSense, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.