CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE AWARDS
Dwayne Anthony, owner of Anthony’s Irrigation in Highland, California, contributed to the savings of 65 million gallons of water by working on a program that offered controller retrofits to area residents. Photos: Dwayne Anthony
the installations. Not long after, he was working with the district to make the program a reality. Critically, the district also took Anthony’s professional
suggestion for the selected controller to heart, so he could be certain that what he was installing would work and that homeowners would feel comfortable adjusting it as needed.
DOING HIS PART
It’s very self- satisfying for me. Being in the industry as long as I have, and seeing the drought happening right before my eyes, it feels good that I’ve done my part.”
– Dwayne Anthony, Anthony’s Irrigation
Initially, he was staggered at the idea of all of the potential clients he would have to visit to fulfill the program. “It was overwhelming at first,” he says. “But once I got rolling with it, it just became like a normal day, with a nice, constant workload coming at me.” Tough the retrofit program has slowed down thanks
to saturation, he estimates that he installed about 300 con- trollers in the first year. “We’re at about 1,400 controllers, which amounts to about 1,300 residences,” he says. He would receive listings for customers requesting the
controller upgrade, do the work and help them understand how to use the technology best. He’d review the stations and check for issues, then give the homeowner some ideas about potential changes that could help. While many who requested the new controller would just point him to the device and let him work, others had questions. “I’d try to assure them that the weather-based control-
lers will adjust on a daily basis to control their water usage to what’s needed per day,” Anthony says. But changing out for a weather-based controller is just
one step for an irrigation system that makes the best use of water, he says. During his review, he’d look for additional areas where they could make upgrades. “When I speak with customers, I try to convince them that they need to keep looking forward. Don’t stop with
34 Irrigation & Lighting Fall 2022
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just the controller,” he says. “Te controller can only do so much.”
Most of the water used by East Valley, which is set-
tled right next to the base of the mountains, comes from aquifers. Tanks to the district’s forward planning and An- thony’s work, those underground aquifers are at about 80% capacity right now. “We’ve saved a lot of water over the years,” he says. “It’s
very self-satisfying for me. Being in the industry as long as I have, and seeing the drought happening right before my eyes, it feels good that I’ve done my part.” Counting the water saved over time from the first in-
stallations up through the current day as the project shifts to a smaller scale, Anthony estimates that the program has saved a little more than 65 million gallons of water, con- serving about 15,000 gallons per household per year. While Anthony is moving on from the East Valley proj-
ect and retiring this year, the program itself will continue. Te grant that initially fed the retrofit program is running out, so the rebate program will be handled on demand as residents ask. Anthony will let other local irrigation profes- sionals handle those jobs, though. Te way he looks at it, he’s put plenty of time into giving the East Valley district a better chance at using water responsibly. “I look at that 80% of water in our basin, and it just makes me feel good to know that a little of bit of that is mine,” he says.
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