Irrigation Association Opposes EPA’s New Homes Program

The Irrigation Association (IA) has been studying the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water-Efficient Single-Family New Home Specification. The implications of the program, according to the IA, are a major concern to the future of the landscape and irrigation industries.

Residential landscape contractors and irrigation industry representatives believe that the new home specification program is being released prematurely.

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In its current format, the program contains serious flaws that make it unacceptable to the irrigation industry, developers and water providers.

The Irrigation Association Board of Directors has recommended that the EPA not move forward with the outdoor criteria of the specification until locally-driven and clearer, outcome-based performance criteria are developed in partnership with qualified professionals.

In a meeting with the EPA's WaterSense team, IA's executive directors delivered the message to the EPA that the IA “strenuously objects to the new homes specifications, and if launched in its current format, the association could not support the new homes program.”