Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers

EPA issued a draft specification for weather-based irrigation controllers in November 2009.  For more information, please review:

• Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers
• Notification of Intent
• Certification and Labeling

Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers Supporting Documentation

• Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers Cover Letter (PDF) (2 pp, 441K)
• Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers (PDF) (5 pp, 52K)
• Draft Specification for Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers Supporting Statement (PDF) (12 pp, 87K)
• Examination of SWAT Protocol Utilizing a Performance Analysis of Weather-based Irrigation Controllers (PDF) (111 pp, 4.5MB)

EPA will host two webinars with stakeholders to discuss the draft specification on December 16, 2009:

Morning Meeting: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. Register for this meeting .

Afternoon Meeting: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Register for this meeting .

Please note that the afternoon meeting is approaching capacity and WaterSense prefers that stakeholders register for the morning meeting if at all possible. Participants in the afternoon meeting may be asked to switch to the morning meeting to allow for productive dialog. Call-in and other meeting information will be e-mailed to you once you register. Meeting materials will be sent to registered participants via e-mail closer to the meeting date.

In addition, EPA will hold an in-person meeting with stakeholders on December 4, 2009, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Central time, at the Irrigation Show 2009 held in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Room details will be provided to registered attendees prior to the meeting. Please RSVP to attend this meeting by e-mailing the WaterSense Helpline at watersense@epa.gov or calling (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367). To allow participation by as many interested parties as possible, please register for only one meeting.

Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the draft specification for weather-based irrigation controllers until January 18, 2010. Please send any comments or suggestions to watersense-products@erg.com. All comments become a part of the public record.

In order to facilitate the consistency and usefulness of comments received, please submit your comments using the Template for Public Comment Submission (MS Word) (1 pp, 56K). You may either download and save this document template and directly insert your comments, or attach your comments in your own document, provided that you clearly reference the text/section in question, your recommended changes, and why you think these changes are needed.

[ top of page ]

Notification of Intent

On April 19, 2007, EPA hosted a meeting with stakeholders to discuss the technical issues and specification development process for weather-based irrigation control technologies. For more information, please review:

• Meeting Summary (PDF) (24pp, 96K)
• Meeting Agenda (PDF) (2pp, 26K)
• EPA's Notification of Intent (PDF) (14pp, 193K)
• Weather- or Sensor-Based Irrigation Control Technologies Notification of Intent Stakeholder Meeting Presentation (PDF) (18pp, 2.4MB)
• Overview of Notification of Intent and Technical Issues Presentation (PDF) (44pp, 4.6MB)
• Climate-Based Irrigation Controller Protocol Presentation (PDF) (18pp, 983K)

Please contact the WaterSense Helpline at (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367), or e-mail us with questions or comments.

[ top of page ]

Certification and Labeling

On September 15, 2008, EPA hosted a webinar to familiarize irrigation manufacturers of weather-based irrigation controllers with the WaterSense certification and labeling process. For more information, please review:

• Meeting Summary (PDF) (6pp, 39K)
• WaterSense Certification and Labeling Presentation (PDF) (26pp, 193K)

[ top of page ]