Thursday, May 29, 2014

In the crowd at SFLIS 2014: spring edition

For those of us in the urban landscape irrigation game, this month got off to an excellent start with the South Florida Landscape IrrigationSymposium in Miami-Dade.

The host venue: UF/IFAS Miami-Dade Extension Office in The Redland
A working partnership
A collaborative effort between Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County Extensions, the event packed in municipal groundskeepers and irrigation techs, roadside landscaping crews, arborists, some property managers and even a random biologist or two...


...everyone there for an update on the latest in water conservation thinking/practice from local and regional UF/IFAS experts, and CEUs from Allstate Resource Management.

Speaking of UF/IFAS experts: Dr. Michael Dukes and Dr. Kati Migliaccio in conference
What role does irrigation play in your work?
I can confidently attest to whom was there and why because I spent the better part of the event talking to attendees on camera. Many in the audience were interested in the latest irrigation equipment - on hand thanks to the sponsoring vendors.

Dr. Michael Dukes presents on smart irrigation technology ROI in Orange County 
One individual had sour experiences with soil moisture sensors and was especially keen on the smart irrigation presentations. And most others desired to learn as much as possible so as to better educate their clients about proper irrigation design and maintenance, and why it’s a sound investment.

All nozzle errthing: at the Hunter Industries display
Saving water my way
My favorite portion of the event was the “Success Story” panel.

The success panel (from left): Carlos Victoria, Terry Liddel and Donna Fries
This talk grouped together a property manager, an irrigation crew supervisor and a utility representative for a lively question and answer session that engaged the audience about not only the prevalence of water waste in most urban landscape systems, but also the possibility of turning the tide in favor of efficiency, especially in Miami-Dade, where the irrigation rebate program advances the smart irrigation and Florida-Friendly landscaping ethic with significant funding.

Dr. Kati Migliaccio talks weather-based irrigation controllers (WBICs)
Conservation never stops
If you were not able to attend the symposium, enjoy the video recap below courtesy of Miami-Dade’s Urban Conservation Unit.


The next symposium is scheduled for Broward County this fall. Stayed tuned to this blog for developing information, or follow IrriGator on twitter.




About the author: 
Michael Gutierrez is a water resources 
technician with UF/IFAS in the Ag & Bio 
Engineering Dept. He tweets, blogs and 
also shoots still and video media in South 
Florida, Gainesville and anywhere else a 
camera is handy. (image: Jesus Lomeli)

1 comment:

  1. This was a fantastic event. If there are any specialist or agents out there who would like to host a similar event or participate in our events - please let me know. We are always looking for new and exciting content.

    ReplyDelete