Illinois Law Requires Rain Sensors

Through the efforts of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA), rain sensor legislation, which will save millions of gallons of water, has been signed into law in Illinois, effective January 2009.  

This legislation will benefit property owners through water cost savings, less water will be drawn from aquifers and lakes, and plants will have better survival by avoiding overwatering. 

Rain Sensor legislation (S. 730) impacts newly installed irrigation systems for both commercial and residential users.  Excluded are irrigation systems on golf courses and agricultural lands.

Senator Susan Garrett ((D - 29th District) and Representative Elaine Nekritz (D -57th District) recognized the benefit to both environment and economy that this legislation represents.

Signed into law by Governor Rod Blagojevich, the new law requires all automatic sprinkler systems in Illinois to have technology that interrupts operation when there is sufficient soil moisture or rainfall. 

The installation of inexpensive devices - rain sensors -  detect that sprinkler systems do not need to operate when it is raining or immediately after a storm.

Introduced by ILCA, its lobbyists Dave Manning and Tom Walsh, helped Illinois lawmakers understand the enormous importance and benefit of this bill.  The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 40 yeas, 15 nays, and 0 abstentions and the House by a margin of 95 yeas, 21 nays, and 0 abstentions.

This is but one example of Illinois Landscape Contractors Association's legislation-in-action policy serving as both steward of the environment and consumer issues.