Irrigation equipment manufacturer Rain Master has released a smart irrigation branding logo and says it understands the industry’s push for the smart technology.
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Eco Smart is the brand that will be used to illustrate the focus of their smart irrigation products. Its promotion in July coincided with Smart Irrigation Month, named so by the Irrigation Association and officially declared by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns. The purpose is to emphasize the need for irrigation users and installers to be more aware of water usage.
While many irrigation systems are designed to conserve water based on evapotranspiration, there are several other factors to consider, says Steve Springer, vice president of business development for Rain Master.
“As we address micro climates, we’re ecologically smart, not just rain smart,” he says. “The basic controller just interfaces with weather data and evapotranspiration. We look at root depth, slope depth and other factors. We look at the eco environment, not just ET.”
Springer adds Rain Master irrigation systems are designed to take these factors into account while automatically adjusting to only use the necessary amount of water.
While Springer acknowledges Rain Master isn’t unique in creating this type of product, he says the company wanted to come up with a specific brandmark for theirs to highlight the fact that they do offer the smart systems.
The need for water-saving systems couldn’t be more apparent, Springer says. In some Southwest states, new landscaping has been banned for the rest of the year. Watering restrictions are in place as well. Even northern cities, including Chicago and Seattle, have felt the pinch in recent years and called for water conservation measures.
Golf courses are feeling the heat too, Springer says. Many already use secondary, treated water in their irrigation systems, and he predicts more will go to this water source in the future.
The next step for courses in some parts of the country will be landing zone courses. These courses, which already exist out west, consist of a landing zone for the drive and turfgrass only in zones where the ball is normally hit, including the green, while the rest of the course is a natural grass area or desert scape.
“The roughs are really roughs,” Springer says. “They’re just natural landscape. There’s just enough turf for golfer to play on turf and that’s it.”
He identifies the area most likely to see restrictions as the smile, or Sun Belt. That includes the area of California, over to Louisiana and into the Carolinas.
On golf courses and lawns, smart controllers can help ease the burden cutting back water usage 20 to 30 percent, Springer says.
But at this point, smart controllers are slow in coming onto the scene. Right now Springer estimates less than 10 percent of all residential and commercial irrigation users have smart controllers on their systems. That number is about 50 percent for golf courses. He predicts that number will jump, especially if more states begin issuing water usage restrictions, which looks likely.
“The state of California now implements a law, taking effect by 2010, that every system will have to have a smart controller on it,” he says. “In two or three other states, legislation is pending.”
In about a half dozen states, including California, water departments are offering energy rebates to those who convert their old controllers to smart controllers, Springer adds.
“I can’t think of one water agency in California that doesn’t offer some sort of rebate plan,” he says.
Now, as the federal government steps in to enforce conservation measures, it may be too late to return to a time with no water restrictions.
“The train is already heading down the hill, as they say,” Springer says. “It doesn’t matter if you do have water. If you’re not saying you’re conserving water, you’re going to get the water police looking at you.”
Rain Master is now celebrating 25 years of manufacturing controllers. For more information, visit www.rainmaster.com.