http://www.igin.com/articles.sec-66-1-miscellaneous.html Just as the human heart pumps blood through the circulatory system to keep a body healthy, the irrigation pump sends life-sustaining water throughout the sprinkler system to keep the turf and plants healthy.]]> If you’re looking to hire an irrigation service technician, what qualifications would you list in the job description? ]]> Water harvesting isn’t a new idea. For centuries, it has been relied upon to supply water for households and other uses. ]]> WHEN I LIVED IN upstate New York, I hated winter and everything that went along with it. Having to protect my body from the freezing cold with boots, gloves and heavy sweaters put a strain on my already tight budget. ]]> The more important question to ask is Why would you care about a new irrigation system if the one you´ve been installing since you first started your business works just fine?]]> How many times have you driven down the street or on the Interstate in the pouring rain and noticed that sprinklers are putting down even more water? While Mother Nature is doing her work by quenching the thirsty soil, the automatic sprinklers are running . . . and wasting water.]]> With water an increasingly scarce and valuable resource, it’s more important than ever for landscape irrigation designs to include efficiencies in every component of the system—including the pumping equipment. ]]> Water budgeting is a valuable tool to further water conservation efforts. It has been gaining in popularity for the last 15 years or so.]]> This quip by my buddies in the office is partly true. I’ve been working in my present job for many years and seem to have developed quite a following among our contractors. They call with all sorts of problems, with the hopes of stumping me in the process. ]]> About two years ago at a trade conference, I was talking with a landscape contractor who, up until that point in time, only specialized in design/build in the residential market. ]]> Today’s irrigation technology is rapidly evolving to deliver water more evenly, more efficiently and more affordably. These improvements couldn’t come at a better time. ]]> WATER CONSERVATION INITIATIVES HAVE SKYROCKETED over the past few years forcing many cities into mandatory water restrictions. Some mandate an overall usage reduction while others restrict days and time of acceptable watering periods. ]]> AS A HORTICULTURALIST AND AN IRRIGATION CONTRACTOR, I WITNESS FIRSTHAND THE STAGGERING AMOUNT OF WATER wasted every day in an effort to maintain a beautiful landscape. ]]> Seventy years ago, there were approximately 150 million people living in this country. Today, that number has more than doubled. The population explosion has taken its toll on our nation’s water supply. As a result of increased demand, many of our aquifers are at low levels, and wetlands throughout the country have gone dry. A dilapidated water infrastructure has exacerbated the problem.]]> SUPPLY AND DEMAND IS A concept familiar to any good businessman. The more people want something, the more they’ll pay to get it. It’s as simple as that. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than the mind-numbing high oil prices that have become a constant in this day and age.]]> LET’S ASSUME THAT YOUR COMPANY gets a contract with a homeowner whose property encompasses the size of two football fields, and, in addition to regular lawn maintenance, that homeowner wants you to install an irrigation system. You and your employees are all very happy—after all, this is a big job.]]> So it’s already January and things are cold, wet and winter-whitening chilly and a nice hot cup of coffee is just what the doctor ordered. And best to drink up now, recharge those batteries and get ready to kick things into high gear, because—cold as things are now—spring is just around the corner, and there’s work to be done.]]>