The Irrigation Association, Fairfax, Virginia, submitted a letter to the California Energy Commission, Sacramento, California, regarding its Landscape Irrigation Controllers Proposed Standards.
The association’s letter highlights a number of concerns with the standard, including the practicality and feasibility of implementing certain proposed measures, potential increased costs for both the industry and end users, deviations from established Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., WaterSense specifications, challenges associated with mandatory bundling of plug-in and add-on components, the inclusion of battery-operated controllers which may not suit all applications, and the timing of the implementation which could disrupt the seasonal nature of irrigation product sales.
“In crafting our response to the proposed efficiency standards for landscape irrigation controllers, we aimed to convey both our support for advancing water and energy conservation in California and our concerns about the practical implications of these regulations,” says Nathan Bowen, Irrigation Association advocacy and public affairs vice president.
The commission will now review comments made before proceeding to the next phase of the process.
“Our comments to the CEC on behalf of the industry, emphasized the need for a balanced approach that leverages existing successful programs like EPA’s WaterSense, and seek to avoid unnecessary complications that could hinder, rather than help, our shared conservation goals,” says Bowen.
