IA Awards Program

National Water & Energy Conservation

Established in 1982, this award honors significant achievement in the conservation of water and energy relating to irrigation procedures, equipment, methods and techniques.

 

2012

Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, Calif.

Led by Supervising Treatment Plant Operator Tim Linn, the staff of the Palmdale Agricultural Site manages a 12 million gallon-per-day capacity water treatment plant. Their work provides 100 percent treated effluent to irrigate, under center pivot, approximately 2,000 acres of agricultural crops.  Linn and staff have shown the best in water management by navigating regulatory restrictions, crop rotations, nutrient loads and crop water demand to keep up with the county’s constant supply of recycled water. 

 

 

2011

USDA-ARS

Fort Collins, Colo.

 

The USDA-ARS Water Management Research Unit celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2011. Its scientists and engineers have contributed to dam development, flow metering, irrigation control structures, evapotranspiration, crop water use, center pivot energy management and sprinkler irrigation design and evaluation. Current research is focused on developing management practices that can help sustain irrigated agriculture in the Great Plains and throughout the western U.S. with declining water supplies. The research is developing better understanding of how crops respond to deficit irrigation and how to maximize productivity with limited water (maximize “crop per drop”). 

 

2010

Otay Water District

 
Based in Spring Valley, Calif., the district has successfully implemented numerous innovative audit, rebate and education programs. Under the direction of Water Conservation Manager William Granger, the district serves more than 191,000 people in southeastern San Diego County. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WaterSense Partner since 2007, Otay has conducted more than 1,400 residential surveys, installed almost 3,200 nozzles in single-family homes, and hosted six customer workshops since 2008. Otay also has completed over 190 large landscape audits and implemented an irrigation upgrade program with almost 30 sites.

 

2009

City of Calgary’s Parks Department

 

2008

City of Palmdale, California

 

2006

San Antonio Water System

 

2005

Town of Cary, North Carolina

 

2004

Upper Republican Natural Resources District, Nebraska

 

2003

2001 Southern Alberta Water Sharing Group: Blood Tribe Agricultural Project

and 

St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID) Expanded Main Canal Advisory Committee

and 

Southern Water Users Association

 

2002

Florida’s Water Management Districts: Northwest, South, Southwest, St. Johns River, Suwannee River

 

2000

Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission

 

1999

Water Protection Association of Central Kansas

 

1998

Center for Irrigation Technology

 

1997

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District

 

1996

Walt Disney World Company, Horticulture and Environmental Initiative

 

1995

Idaho Power Company

 

1993

Idaho Department of Water Resources, Energy Division

 

1992

Weston Community, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

and 

Arvada/IMB Partners

 

1991

Westlands Water District

 

1990

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

and 

Imperial Irrigation District and the Environmental Defense Fund

 

1986

Department of Agricultural Engineering, Cal Poly State University

and 

San Luis Obispo and California Department of Water Resources, Sacramento

 

1985

CH2M Hill, Portland, Oregon

and 

Eastern Oregon Farming Company, Irrigon, Oregon

 

1984

High Plains Underground Water District, Lubbock, Texas

 

1983

Denver Water Department and Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado

 

1982

A.C. Sarsfield and Northern California Turfgrass Council

andHawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association