Marin Water named recipient of the IA SWAT Outstanding Public Engagement Award
FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA (Oct. 4, 2023) — The Irrigation Association has named Marin Water in Corte Madera, California, as the recipient of the Smart Water Application Technologies 2023 Outstanding Public Engagement Award.
This award recognizes a water provider with a successful program focused on engaging and educating the public on smart, efficient irrigation technologies and practices. By shining the spotlight on outstanding water providers and their innovative projects, the Irrigation Association is working to raise awareness by water customers of the value and impact our industry and this type of engagement can have on our communities.
Marin Water developed its Watershed Approach to Landscaping Program with the goal of educating and engaging the community on holistic, water-wise landscaping practices that save water and positively impact the local environment. Through the creation of multiple resources, the program guides end users step-by-step through the entire process of smart and efficient landscape design, implementation and maintenance.
The resources available include a robust water-wise landscaping practices guidebook developed with Green Gardens Group, a community education class series at the College of Marin and a community garden grant program, all for use by water customers to help them successfully transform their landscapes. This cohesive set of resources fulfills a need in their community for comprehensive, actionable and inspiring information on sustainable landscape design.
“Through its engagement with the community, Marin’s Watershed Approach to Landscaping Program has provided residential and commercial customers practical information and resources to advance conservation, while demonstrating Marin Water’s commitment as an ally to consumers in sustainability efforts,” said IA CEO Natasha Rankin, MBA, CAE. “Congratulations to Marin Water on this much-deserved SWAT award.”
The Watershed Approach to Landscaping Program has achieved significant success, with hundreds of requests for copies of the program handbook and over 350 participants in its class series, despite being severely impacted by COVID. Marin’s WaterSmart Gardening webpage, which hosts a link to an electronic, downloadable version of the handbook, has received over 3,000 views in the last 12 months.
The 2023 SWAT Outstanding Public Engagement Award was presented on Oct. 4 during the WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition. Applications for the 2024 IA SWAT awards will open in early 2024. For more information about the Irrigation Association go to irrigation.org, and for more information about the Smart Water Application Technologies coalition and our award winners, go to swatirrigation.org.