Welcome to the Drought Management and Water Conservation page. This page is dedicated to ways to address and deal with the continuing drought and water shortage events happening to the irrigation industry in Texas and the United States. As 2011 winds down, it will surely go down in the record books of Texas as one of the worst years for heat and rainfall in history. This record breaking year is forcing professional irrigators, property managers, property owners, and governmental entities to re-evaluate their water usage and management plans!!!!!
For most of 2011 water consumers and providers where basically behind the curve of the event, thinking that "surely next week it will rain", and therefore putting off taking positive action. Well, after a year, of waiting for the "rain" to come and the "temperatures to break", we now know they did not come.....
We are now looking at the winter months, which will give us a little respite from the heat, the fires, and the drought. Now we will deal with the cold, the fires, and the drought. So fundamentally the only thing that will change is we will go from hot to cold. We will get some relief from the water rationing, as the landscape (those that survived) will not be needing as much water or in many cases none at all. (Dead plants don't consume water) However, this is not the time to rest......it is the time to reflect and plan for the spring.
Reflection......This is actually the easy part. Last summer showed some parts of the state what other parts of the state has been going through for quite some time. For example, historically the folks in Houston could appreciate the impact on water rationing in places like Austin and Dallas, but once they had to go on MANDATED WATER RESTRICTIONS themselves, it took on a life of its own. They soon found out there is a difference between "appreciating" and "doing". Last spring, summer and to some extent this fall has provided a snap shot view of what is in store for 2011. We all can gain from a process called "LESSONS LEARNED", in other words reflect on the past, understand the cause and effect, determine what did work, and what did not, and then be prepared so as not to repeat the same mistakes again.
 | The drought magnified the performance levels of irrigation design - Poor designs were magnified when rainfall did not cover the weak areas |
| Product selection became very important when run times became an issue |
| Drip irrigation became less mysterious when it was allowed during drought when conventional irrigation was not |
| Scheduling became more difficult when a finite time was allowed and things like precipitation rates and ET rates were not practiced |
| Plant selection became a major issue when watering windows became the "norm" |
| Irrigation Design and Irrigation practices that were not compliant with the new Irrigation Laws became very evident when cities and municipalities began to aggressively enforce them |
| Water costs began to take on a whole new meaning when water rates began to rise |
| Scheduling took on a whole new meaning when cities and purveyors allowed very small and limited times |
These are just a few of the Hmmm's.......we are pausing to review. Understand, next spring is will be here before we know it, and it will bring all the baggage from 2011 with it. Here are some of the things to reflect on as well......
| The drought did not go away!!!!! |
| Many of the landscape materials will be dead. It will be academic if they died from last winters freeze or this spring/summer/fall drought |
| The fall rains did not come, so there are no re-supply of water reserves and restorative benefit to the plant material |
| The same poor designed and performing system that was in place last year, is still in place this year |
| Cities and Purveyors will not wait till they implement new watering restrictions and watering rationing concepts |
| Cities and Purveyors will scrutinize irrigation plans with a whole new level of understanding |
| Client's will have a much higher level of expectations for all levels of the landscape and irrigation industry |
| Client's, cities, and purveyors will have a much higher level of demand for responsibility |
Action.....This is where you will need to get your proverbial "*%$@" together and be ready for the spring of 2012 with a renewed respect for water and have a plan of attack. You need to be prepared to be pro-active and not re-active.
| Have a drought plan in place for your business, your clients, and your home |
| Get up to speed on all of the current rules, codes, regulations, that affect you and your clients |
| Re-evaluate and educate your self on your design skills and get them up to the task for drought management not just good enough to get by |
| Re-evaluate and education your self on our your product selection by manufacturer and application |
| Re-evaluate and educate your self on drip irrigation |
| Re-evaluate and educate your self on ET based scheduling, precipitation rates, frequency, soils, plant material |
| Invest in technology tools that will allow you to perform many of these functions more efficiently such as design and scheduling software |
| Get up to speed on options available to both you and your client, such as Central Control, Water Harvesting, Gray water re-use |
| Communicate with your fellow irrigator, share your knowledge and borrow some of theirs... |
| Make sure you are a better steward of water |
| Become more aware of the limited water supply and help your client become aware as well |
SPECIFIC PROGRAMS WATER MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST HAS AVAILABLE FOR 2012
| Enhanced Design Classes - both for CEU's and for practical knowledge |
| Enhanced Scheduling Classes - both for CEU's and practical knowledge |
| Irrigation Scheduling Assistant (ISA) software Scheduling packages |
| Irrigation Design Assistant (ADA) software package |
| Drought management and water conservation workshops for the consumers, clients, and irrigation professionals |
TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR DROUGHT MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION SCHEDULING
Water management Specialists is offering an eight (8) workshop that will address Drought Management and Irrigation Scheduling. This is a professional course for irrigators and is also open to property managers, owners, HOA managers, and any professional individuals that are interested or required to manage irrigation system scheduling.
The next courses available are in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Contact our office for more information.