A UF/IFAS Water School Near You

Water Schools are an expanding priority for UF/IFAS. The concept was originally conceived in Polk County in the 90s and then caught on throughout neighboring Southwest FL. Currently there are plans to develop water schools in Marion, Brevard, Citrus and Lake/Sumter Counties. On June 27^th the Lake/Sumter Water School is set to debut. Event co-organizer Lloyd Singleton (of Sumter County Extension) recently communicated with IrriGator to offer further insight into the Lake/Sumter County effort.

Lloyd Singleton (left) and Steve Turnipseed inspect a FL native (image FANN)

What do you feel is the most pressing water issue in your area of FL?

LS: Rapid planned residential development in the south part of Lake County (Clermont, Minneola, Groveland) and the north part of Sumter County (The Villages) are increasing the demands for water. Lots of new lawns and landscapes with irrigation, so water quantity is of great concern. Given its namesake, Lake County has water quality concerns for the beautiful chains of lakes in the region.

Christopher Martinez discusses water schools to educate & help influencers in making a difference in water conservation & quality #CLCE17 pic.twitter.com/457xJk6jsF

— UF IFAS Solutions (@UF_IFAS) March 17, 2017

How often are water schools conducted in your counties?

LS: We conducted a water school for local community leaders last summer (2016), and this is our first one open to the general public. One of the outcomes of that water school, where we used Dr. Borisova’s evaluation, was that they suggested the same information be provided to the general public. So that’s what we decided to do this summer. Some of the information may be over the heads of the general public, but I’m not a big believer in dumbing stuff down. Sometimes you need to challenge critical thinking with a little bit of higher level information. 

We are grateful to our sponsors, the Lake County Soil & Water Conservation District and the Southwest Florida Water Management District for providing the resources to share this event with the general public. If it is well received and the word spreads, I’m confident we can do more.

The water school program includes quite an array of expertise, who is the intended audience?

LS: The program is open to anyone; we are seeing interest from a wide variety of folks, including Master Gardeners, the environmentally-minded, early adopters of all sorts. We’ve assembled experts in numerous fields related to water, ready to share their expertise and answer your questions about this precious, limited natural resource.

There is a water school goodie bag to entice attendees. What kind of useful items are included?

LS: The gift bag itself is a reusable grocery bag in beautiful UF blue, labeled Water School. We will also provide a flash drive with all of the presenter’s presentations included as .pdfs, a personal water bottle, hose end spray nozzle, a fertilizer guide, bookmark, and lots of Florida-Friendly Landscaping information is included, too.

All of the above and information straight from the experts

Co-organized by Juanita Popenoe, PhD., and Lloyd Singleton, the Lake/Sumter County Water School takes place Tuesday, June 27^th. Register here.

Just in Time: Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology Releases a Drought Toolkit

Recently the Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology (CLCE) released an information package including some of the best IFAS expertise on water-use in a drought context. With municipalities and water management districts in Central and Southwest Florida declaring Phase III water restrictions, this is timely insight to have on hand. Prior to the info release Center Director Dr. Michael Dukes granted IrriGator a brief interview to discuss the CLCE’s role in drought and easy ways to address water-waste in your irrigation system.

Even with rain, lawns are dry. A #UF_IFAS expert offers advice for treating your parched lawn properly: https://t.co/HayhjvvJ6r @IrriGatorUF pic.twitter.com/qQldhSjjdZ

— UF IFAS Solutions (@UF_IFAS) May 28, 2017

What does CLCE hope to achieve with the release of all this drought relevant information/insight?

MD: We’re really trying to promoting awareness of the drought. It has been ten years since we’ve had a drought here this widespread. There have been many pockets of dryness (South Florida for example) in between. But really to promote awareness and get people thinking about that our water resources are limited.

U.S. Drought Monitor stats for FL as of late May. (via USDM)

What role do you feel IFAS and CLCE can play in this kind of context?

MD: Our role right now is the awareness part. What can you do about it. And if you’re faced with drought what are some of your options. But I think the building of the awareness part is one of the most important parts because every day when we’re not in a drought we’re conducting research and education on best practices, use of smart irrigation technologies, efficient irrigation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping – we’re doing all those things year round. If you do implement these things you’ll be better prepared for a drought.

This season I know many of the water management districts have stepped up their messaging about drought. Are there opportunities for collaboration with these entities?

MD: Short answer is I think so. The longer answer is there is not a formal mechanism for it. We don’t have a regular meeting with all five water management districts. However, we do have informal relationships and once we get our drought information package together St. Johns River Water Management District has asked us for it. We’ll help them by providing the best science that we have.

“If we don’t conserve water now, we will get into an emergency situation where we don’t have the supply we need." https://t.co/1YcTAwNuDG

— UF/IFAS IrriGator (@IrriGatorUF) May 25, 2017

What are some easy, fast ways to implement best practices to reduce water use in a drought context?

MD: Well, the irony of a drought is you need to water. It’s not the best time to cut your water back. If you have a maintained landscape you’re going to be watering it right now, probably quite a bit. But the practices, the research and education that we conduct all will set you up better for a drought. But it’s stuff you have to do before you get there. Putting in a smart controller right now is probably not going to save any water unless you’re ridiculously overwatering. But from the utility data that we’ve seen people tend to underwater a little bit during this time of year. So people are probably struggling to put enough water on to maintain an aesthetic value of their landscape. The need of the landscapes are very high right now.

The low hanging fruit from an irrigation standpoint, drought or not: adjust the throw on your sprinklers so you’re not watering the road, fix breaks, and check for other obvious issues like clogged heads. The more advanced stuff like smart controllers, they may not save you water right now, certainly rain sensors won’t since it’s not raining. But these things will save you water once we do get to that rainy season.

Dive into the CLCE’s Drought Toolkit here.