IA Members Join With PLANET to Improve Arlington National Cemetery

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

The Irrigation Association joined forces with the Professional Landcare Network for the 2012 Renewal and Remembrance Day at Arlington National Cemetery on July 9 and Legislative Day on the Hill the following day. In conjunction with PLANET’s activities on the Hill, IA held its first-ever Landscape Irrigation Advocacy Day, July 8-10, designed to offer IA member participants the opportunity to focus on issues relevant to our industry and interact with officials responsible for influencing landscape water use policy.

On July 10, 2012, IA staff and members converged on Capitol Hill and the White House to address policy and lawmakers on the importance of partnering with the industry to recognize and focus on efficient irrigation technologies, products and services when developing guidelines and regulations affecting landscape water use. Specifically, the IA contingent brought attention to new and existing standards and green codes impacting the landscape irrigation industry, including standards regarding landscape irrigation sprinkler and emitter devices, the standardization procedure for estimating landscape water use and testing methods for smart irrigation controllers. IA members urged the federal government to participate in and incorporate these standards relating to landscape water use once they are developed.  

At PLANET’s annual Renewal and Remembrance event on July 9, more than 30 IA members and staff joined hundreds of other landscape and lawn care professionals from across the nation at Arlington National Cemetery to spend the day mulching, upgrading sprinklers, cabling and installing lightening protection for trees, pruning, liming 150 acres, planting and aerating the soil. IA members worked specifically on renovating or upgrading existing irrigation, adding new irrigation and collecting data about the system to provide better information to Arlington’s grounds management personnel for improved irrigation management.