For most of us who subscribe to this blog, every month is smart irrigation month. The good news for us is the Irrigation Association created smart irrigation month as an initiative to increase public awareness of the value of water-use efficiency and grow demand for water-saving products, practices and services. July is the selected month because it is typically the month water requirements are highest for landscapes, it’s typically the hottest month of the year, and a great time to check how well your irrigation system is watering.
Smart Irrigation Month started in 2005 and is gaining traction as stakeholders recognize the potential impact of efficient irrigation in July and year-round. All industry professionals and businesses are encouraged to participate. Several states have also designated July as Smart Irrigation Month: Arizona, North Carolina, Colorado, and Oklahoma. I am not sure what happened to the other 46 states. Maybe I missed one. If I did please let me know in the comments and if your state isn’t on this list it may be time to send your Governor a letter.
Smart Irrigation Month is an industry campaign to increase public awareness of the value of water-use efficiency. It’s an opportunity for all of us to:
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Educate customers about efficient water use.
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Grow demand for water-saving technologies, products and services.
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Provide real solutions to today’s water challenges.
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Position your company as a leader in smart water-saving practices.
Some of the manufacturers have taken the lead in promoting Smart Irrigation Month. Hunter Industries is running some fun contests on their Facebook page. Rain Bird is having a contest on their Facebook page too. Contestants have the opportunity to win a smart controller. Toro is offering a $50 gift card with the purchase of $250 in Toro products during the month of July. You can see the details here.
Some of the irrigation distributors are getting on board too. Ewing Irrigation is sponsoring a smart irrigation = smart opportunity program. They are offering product discounts all month long.
So this is your chance to support smart irrigation month. There are lots of opportunities to make a difference. Let us know in the comments section of the blog what you plan to do to celebrate the month.
Richard Restuccia – You can also follow me on twitter @H2oTrends or @h2oBloggers.
Did our creative counterpart edit this blog? She missed something! Perhaps there’s a sensor to prevent me from over-irritation with grammar like there’s a sensor to prevent over-irrigation of landscaping. Ah, that would be my social graces!
I’ve become so much more conscientious about water usage since reading your weekly blogs…(I read all of them, not just a few!) Erie, PA is having water issues that caused their water dept to make automated phone calls to homes, telling people that they could only use water for cooking and bathing. Unfortunately in our 21st Century many people don’t have a land line and definitely didn’t get the message. Or did they get it and ignore it? I haven’t head that the ultimatum was enacted…having water outages. I went back to NC, where we aren’t having a dry spell (yet).
My back yard is cracked from lack of consistent rain and I don’t water it b/c it’s “nasty crap” (what a comedian calls fruitcake). I can only dream of having landscaping worth irrigating someday…or at least watering. Perhaps this is the year…if we don’t keep hitting the air or the road to go and visit our kids!!
If I had time to ramble on this much, I must need a summer job…ah, working for a landscaping company?!
Thanks for the catch, it was a technical difficulty and I think we have it corrected. Thanks for all your support and I look forward to more great comments in the future.
Thanks for the mention Richard! We’re excited to once again participate in Smart Irrigation Month with what I feel is a great message. SMART Irrigation = SMART Opportunity. Obviously ValleyCrest has figured out the business opportunities that are there to promote water efficiency to their customers. Will the landscape contractors at large figure it out before it’s too late?
Warren, thanks for the comments and thanks for all the hard work you did this week in DC. I agree with you, this is an opportunity for contractors and as an industry we can move smart irrigation forward we will have to worry less about regulation. I also think our customers are going to start demanding more.