Synergy is when the sum of the parts equals something greater than the sum of the parts. 1 plus 1 = 3 for example. For the past two years I presented at the WaterSmart Innovations conference about the value of water agencies, manufacturers, distributors and contractors working together to create synergy to reduce water use for landscape irrigation. An individual working toward a goal can accomplish much, but a team of people working together as a team can create great solutions. This can happen when team members understand and support the overall goal of the team and are focused on the team achieving the goal. A well functioning team will focus primarily on achieving the goal, and personnel agendas tend to be secondary or cease to exist at all.
Currently SWAT (Smart Water Application Technologies) is creating lots of synergy in irrigation. SWAT is a great example of the green industry working together to create something greater than the sum of the parts. SWAT is a coalition of water purveyors, equipment manufacturers, and irrigation practitioners with shared interests in the Smart Water Application Technologies, or SWAT, initiative in North America. They have pulled together as a team to achieve the goal of reducing landscape water demands.
SWAT has taken on the challenge of maintaining the landscape with less water. The Government Accounting Office in 2003 released a study stating 36 of 50 states in the United States were actively seeking ways to avert water shortages in the next 10 years. The green industry has an opportunity to solve this challenge before lawmakers create laws negatively affecting our industry. SWAT held its first meeting at the Irrigation Association show in 2002. The panel was comprised of water agencies and irrigation manufacturers. The first meeting focused on smart controllers. The goal of the panel was to determine the interests of both sides in smart controllers.
Since that first historic meeting, SWAT has developed test protocols used for smart controller testing. They raised funds to hire a research team to help ensure products developed would be accepted by consumers. Product tests were conducted. Finally, a transformational plan was developed. Currently there are over 50 organizations, including manufacturers, water agencies, distributors and contractors contributing to SWAT.
Synergy between water agencies, manufacturers, distributors, and contractors is achieving the desired result. The industry and consumers are benefiting from the synergy, and I believe there is much more work to accomplish. However, when looking for an iconic example of synergy, it is hard to imagine a better example than what is happening with SWAT, and I look forward to seeing the future successes.