California Water-Use Task Force

David Zoldoske, director of the Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University, Fresno, is president of the Virginia-based Irrigation Association for 2005.

Irrigation Association President David Zoldoske has been named vice chair of a task force that is taking a closer look at landscape irrigation in California. The group will start by reviewing the state's 15-year-old water-efficient landscape ordinance.

The task force was created by a California law adopted last year to improve the efficiency of water use in urban landscapes. Task force recommendations will go to the legislature and to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of the year.

The goal is to review the growing demand for water and improvements in irrigation technology that have occurred since 1990 when another task force helped draft the model water efficient landscape ordinance that has shaped water policies in many California cities and counties.

The group will also look at labeling and performance standards for landscape irrigation equipment, the potential use of water budgets, standardized training and certification for irrigation professionals, incentives for implementing efficiency measures and areas for new research.

"Even modest improvements in the amount of water applied in the landscape area can have significant impacts on California's future water supplies," said Zoldoske, who is director of the Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University, Fresno, Calif.

The task force includes representatives from water agencies, landscape contractors, the green industry, cities and counties, state and federal agencies and environmental groups. Another IA member, Warren Gorowitz of Ewing Irrigation, is vice chair of the Irrigation and Soils working group.

The panel meets in San Diego March 8; in Sacramento, Calif., April 19 and June 21; in Los Angeles May 17, and in Irvine, Calif., July 19.