The Port Washington Water District, alongside the Roslyn Water District and Irrigation Association of New York (IANY), recently hosted their second irrigation contractor training webinar.

The webinar was aimed at educating irrigation contractors on the most effective ways to help customers in the area conserve water and follow the district’s mandatory 2023 irrigation requirements while irrigating their properties this spring and summer.

This effort is also part of a push to make sure that residents have a plan to retrofit smart irrigation controllers into their home irrigation systems, which is mandatory for all PWWD residents by 2025. The District is offering a limited number of $150 rebates for residents who make the switch to smart controllers before the Jan. 1, 2025 deadline.

“Water usage in our community nearly triples during the spring and summer, the primary cause of which being lawn irrigation,” PWWD Commissioner Mindy Germain said. “Most residents depend on contractors to turn on and set up their systems as the weather gets warmer each year, which makes the role that these contractors play in helping our community conserve water an important one. We are truly thankful to the contractors who attended the event and we are looking forward to seeing similar positive results this year as we did after our 2022 webinar.”

During the webinar, both districts spoke on the importance of mandatory irrigation guidelines that all residents are required to follow during peak irrigation season. Included in these guidelines are adhering to Nassau County’s Odd/Even Lawn Watering Ordinance, watering during designated times of day based on their home address and cutting down sprinkler times by four minutes per zone.

The PWWD also highlighted its Do It For Port! water conservation campaign, which launched last year. The campaign consisted of numerous events aimed at educating residents on what they can do to conserve water in their everyday lives.

The 2022 irrigation contractor training webinar took place last February and, when combined with the increased public awareness created by Do It For Port!, yielded substantial conservation results.

Summer of 2022 was one of the driest Long Island has seen in years, and yet when compared to all similarly dry summers since 2010, the PWWD saved an average of approximately 45.5 million gallons of water pumped.

Also presenting during the webinar was Mike Dwyer of the Irrigation Association of New York. Dwyer spoke on specific techniques which contractors can use while installing irrigation systems to help their customers conserve, including drip irrigation, using check valves on all head replacements and using pressure-regulated bodies for repairs.

He also noted the importance of smart irrigation controllers and added that they are most effective when including additions such as rain sensors, flow sensors and soil moisture sensors.

“As professionals of the industry, the Irrigation Association of New York understands the importance of water conservation when it comes to protecting our sole-source aquifer,” said Dwyer. “The IANY is proud to do our part in helping residents of the Port Washington and Roslyn Water Districts by providing our expertise to the irrigation contractors who service these communities.”

“Water conservation is no longer simply a nice thing to do: it is a crucial part of maintaining the health and safety of our most precious natural resource,” Germain said. “With the success of this webinar last year, we are once again excited to see further progress on the positive impact the contractors will have in helping the community meet our mandatory irrigation requirements and achieve the District’s water conservation goals.”

To apply for the PWWD’s Smart Controller Rebate Program, visit www.pwwd.org/conservation/landscape-irrigation-smart-controller-rebate-program-application/.

This press release was updated on March 28. A previous version of the press release provided by the PWWD had stated “the PWWD saved an average of approximately 45.5 gallons of water pumped,” which has been corrected to “45.5. million gallons.” A quote from Dywer was also corrected for a spelling error.