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Presented in partnership |
IA visits water-savvy
San Antonio
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San Antonio, home of the River Walk, has been good to water. And the city was also good to the Irrigation Association by hosting a successful show for the IA.
San Antonio Water System was honored with the 2006 Irrigation Association National Water & Energy Conservation Award. The award was presented at November’s 27th International Irrigation Show at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. San Antonio Water Systems earned the award after a severe drought in 2001 caused the group to work with the irrigation industry to develop a comprehensive ordinance that would conserve water without disproportionately affecting irrigation businesses and other water users.
The ordinance created by the group requires rain sensors for irrigation systems, encourages irrigation audits and rewards efficient landscape and irrigation designs. The effort is credited with saving 1.3 billion gallons of water per year in irrigation and other water uses.
Water-savvy San Antonio also set educational records for the Irrigation Association, as the show’s 43 educational sessions were at or near capacity. The attendance of 5,500 flirted with a record. The show was rounded out by 350 exhibitors.
Forty-one new products were submitted for the show’s fifth annual new product contest in three categories: agriculture, golf and landscape.
In the golf category, Paige Electric’s DB14-4 Direct Burial Splice Kit took top honors. Its splice kit provides a connector assembly for splicing wires in underground installations, including irrigation system requirements and low-voltage lighting cables.
Come Unglued, a pipe debonding tool from Debonding Systems Inc., won the contest in the turf and landscape category. The product breaks the original cement bond of a broken pipe by heating it to the exact temperature needed to remove it from a fitting, all the while leaving the fitting cool and undamaged.
In the agriculture category, Metamix Inc.’s TF-25 Proportional injector won the judges’ praise. It requires no energy other than what it obtains through water flow, and users can hook the device to a computer system to electronically regulate the flow of fertilizers or other liquids.
Leaders of the irrigation industry met and discussed future water challenges affecting the industry, while the baton was passed from the group’s past president, Ken Mills, general manager of Rain Bird Corp., to incoming president, John Roberts, president of Roberts Irrigation.
Roberts outlined two goals for the association — membership growth and growth in member involvement to strengthen both programs and
alliances.
The IA’s 2006 Person of the Year award went to Eugene W. Rochester Jr., whose research has increased uniformity of irrigation with hard-hose travelers. The 54-year-old award recognizes outstanding contributions toward the acceptance of sound irrigation practices.
In addition to doling out awards, IA also received a noteworthy honor. The association was accepted as the first partner of the EPA’s WaterSense Program, the first step toward earning a WaterSense label for the association’s certification programs. The label will help consumers recognize the difference that certification makes, said IA’s executive director Deborah Hamlin.
Ewing Irrigation has appointed Tom Shannon as its water conservation advisor for the eastern United States. Christine Hawkins has been hired to serve the central California region as a water management specialist for the company. Les Jochens, the designer of a network of irrigation supply houses for local farm communities, is the winner of the 2006 Irrigation Association’s Industry Achievement Award. The honor recognizes his system, which provides irrigation dealers with easier access to customized sprinkler packages and other parts for center pivots. He is a founder of the Western Irrigation Supply House. Richard Chapin, creator of a simple drip irrigation kit, is the 2006 recipient of the Irrigation Association’s humanitarian award. Chapin’s invention can help grow food to feed a family on 10 gallons of water a day. The device includes a filter, two 50-foot drip lines and instructions for making raised beds using local materials. |
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