Focus — Irrigation
A Conversation with John Farner: Part 2 The Future... by Meta Levin
In April 2021, The Landscape Contractor maga-
zine listened in on a conversation between ILCA Irrigation Committee Chair Alex Mayfield and National Irrigation Association Industry Development Director John Farner.* The hour-long discussion covered everything from the industry’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic to the future and much in between. This is the second of a three-part series of excerpts from that meeting. Q. What is the role of the irrigation industry in dealing with climate change? John Farner (JF): I think that our industry touches many components of our climate. Some are easy to see and some may not be easy to see. I’ll go to my third grader’s science class, where she has a hand drawn picture of the water cycle. In different water cycle photos, you see trees and grass and John Farner different plant material, the role they play in promoting that water cycle of evaporation, transpiration, rainfall and then back up. Promoting clean ground water. The landscape plays a significant role in promoting clean ground water. The easy thing to see is the role irrigation plays in keeping plants green — taking carbon dioxide in and releasing oxygen. The thirdgrade science class teaches us that’s the case. One of the main drivers of the greenhouse effect is amount of carbon dioxide in our air. Plants play a role in cleaning our air. We need to do a better job as an industry in promoting that. That only works if we make sure our plants are alive and thriving. Dead grass, dead trees, dead shrubs, do us no good in our environment. They need to be kept healthy and alive. The healthier they are, the better they do in promoting a healthy ecologic area. So, we look at soil health. Again, we look at the amount of moisture in the soil. Soil health is going to be key, whether it’s growing anything out of the ground, I don’t care if it’s an ear of corn or a blade of grass, soil health is going to be key
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in looking at the amount of carbon that can be stored in the soil. So, you look at the role that efficient irrigation plays in that, in not having soil erode off; in making sure that is properly irrigated, not too much, not too little, but the right amount. It all comes back to efficient irrigation. The third component is this water/energy nexus that we have. The less water used on the landscape, while keeping the plants healthy, saves energy. The majority of water Alex Mayfield used nationally in landscape irrigation is treated, potable water. That is the gold, platinum standard of water in the United States. That has the fluoride; that has the energy footprint in there to not only treat the water, but to deliver it to your house, and we’re using that for landscape irrigation, because that other infrastructure doesn’t exist for alternative water sources in many cases. So, if we can use that, use it efficiently, not waste any of it, we are saving energy and conserving water at the same time. Two of our resources that are always a focus. There are many more layers to this onion that I didn’t even mention, but those are some of the top ones. Alex Mayfield (AM): In Illinois that was one we battled with 10 years ago and I’ll use the City of Chicago as an example. Reclaimed water was one of the biggest components of their LEED points and the gold standard on their buildings. We were using that for irrigation. The Illinois EPA came in and said, that’s great, but it’s not treated. You’re going to get pathogens. You can’t spray it, you can’t do this and, if you do, you got to put in $50,000 worth of filters, just to use it. The buildings that put it in to get their points, have abandoned it, because it is not worth it, which is hurting our area. It was really going well there for a while, but then it hit a crashing halt. (continued on page 44)
The Landscape Contractor August 2021
