New videos online: you say drip, I say goteo!

I recently produced a set of videos for Miami-Dade Extension’s Urban Conservation Unit (UCU). The topic is drip irrigation.

Where inefficiency is king

One of many factors not considered in South Florida urban landscape irrigation design is the difference between turf and shrub water needs. As a result, during system assessments we often encounter irrigation zones with mixed landscaping - that is, sprinkler heads within the zone are watering both turf and shrubs at once, and usually overwatering the shrubs due to turf’s higher water requirement.

On the rare occasion when we do see zones separated by landscape type, inevitably the same high-volume sprinkler head selected to water the turf zone will be used to water the shrub zone.

Drip to the rescue

Last year, the UCU assessed a homeowner association (HOA) system in North Miami Beach that featured the very design flaw described above – high-volume heads on low-volume need zones. As usual, we recommended retrofitting to drip irrigation (our most common and most often ignored recommendation!).

Drip irrigation applies drops of water directly to the roots of the target landscaping – at once conserving water while also keeping plant foliage dry and healthy.

Several months later, when we returned to the HOA for the post-assessment, we were floored upon discovering that the property had actually removed dozens of spray heads from its shrub zones in favor of lines and lines of drip irrigation!

This HOA is where we set our scene. The English video features UCU team leader, Mary McCready. The Spanish video features UCU technician, Jesus Lomeli. Check them out!

Getting the drop on drip irrigation

Detallando un sistema de riego por goteo

Aime's last day

I apologize for the tardiness of this note. I would like to thank Aime for all she did for us! Her last day was last Thursday and we will miss her smiling face!

Radioactive iodine in rainwater in U.S

Hi All,

Just share you know some information of whether rain water in the U.S is influenced by the Japan nuclear crisis.

Please see the information below

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EPA finds radioactive iodine in rainwater

By Eartha Jane Melzer | 03.28.11 | 4:38 pm

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it has found radioactive iodine in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts rainwater at levels higher that those considered safe in drinking water.

Jeff McMahon blogs for Forbes:

“It is important to note that the corresponding MCL for iodine-131 was calculated based on long-term chronic exposures over the course of a lifetime – 70 years. The levels seen in rainwater are expected to be relatively short in duration,” the agency states in a FAQ that accompanied yesterday’s brief news release.

EPA said it is receiving “verbal reports” of higher levels of radiation in rainwater samples from other states as well, and that Americans should continue to expect short-term contamination of rainwater as radioactive isotopes spread through the atmosphere from Japan.

“We continue to expect similar reports from state agencies and others across the nation given the nature and duration of the Japanese nuclear incident.”

The agency said it has ordered samples from 78 drinking water systems. It has also ordered immediate sampling of cow’s milk around the country. Milk sampling is important, EPA said, because in situations involving large releases of radioactive iodine, cows grazing on contaminated grass will accumulate the iodine in their milk. A complete analysis of the cow milk can take three days.

EPA’s only recommendation to state and local governments is to continue to coordinate closely with EPA, CDC and FDA – EPA will continue to communicate our nationwide sampling results as they come in.

EPA’s daily updates are available here."

(from http://michiganmessenger.com/47723/epa-finds-radioactive-iodine-in-rainwater)

Also, there is some hint for you to deal with the problem

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Radioactive Iodine Therapy – Safe and Effective Treatment for Hyperthyroidism

The thyroid gland in the neck produces two hormones that regulate all aspects of the body’s metabolism. When the thyroid gland becomes overactive, it leads to a condition called hyperthyroidism. The thyroid gland absorbs all of the iodine in the blood. Radioactive Iodine therapy is a treatment for an overactive thyroid.

Radioactive iodine is an isotope created from iodine and is used for medical purposes. Patients must have high level of thyroid-stimulating hormone in the blood to take up radioactive iodine. The radioactive iodine is taken as a capsule or liquid. When a form of radioactive iodine is taken into the body, it destroys the thyroid cells that take up iodine without affecting the rest of the body. Radio active iodine is also used to treat thyroid cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Radioactive iodine therapy has improved the survival rate among patients suffering from papillary or follicular thyroid cancer. This treatment is not suitable for the types of cancer that do not absorb iodine.

Short term side effects of radioactive therapy may include neck tenderness, nausea, upset stomach, dry mouth or swelling and tenderness of the salivary glands. It is possible that the thyroid gland will be destroyed with this procedure. Thyroids are essential for metabolism, so the patients might have to take thyroid pills for the rest of their life. Depending on the dose of radioiodine the patient might have to be in the hospital for a few days.

Radioiodine is considered to be the safest, least expensive, and most convenient and effective treatment for hyperthyroidism."

(adapted from http://www.radiology-info.org/radioactive-iodine-therapy.html)

WUEP irrigation research project – version 2011!

With a new round of funding finally accessible, the irrigation research portion of Miami-Dade County Water & Sewer’s Water-Use Efficiency Program began in earnest this week with a day of repairs - to continue generating data at one site, and prepare another for eventual installation.

A day’s work

With only the bravest of amphibians to keep us company we began the work day at the crack of dawn, making minor adjustments to a homeowner property’s mechanical, city water irrigation system.

This property has elected to participate in this year’s water-saving study and will receive a complete retrofit, with water meters for data monitoring, in April.

From there we moved to resuscitate an older research site. An errant vehicle recently destroyed the backflow device protecting the home’s potable water lines from irrigation line contamination - at once disabling the system and also suspending our data collection.

Expanding the project

The new round of funding also heralds new aspects to the irrigation study. While we continue to focus on potential water savings through the use of soil water sensor technology, the study’s scope has expanded to include “smart” irrigation controllers.

Specifically, we will be monitoring the water-savings potential of a model that uses an on-site weather station (a temperature sensor and tipping bucket rain gauge) and detailed irrigation zone information to estimate and then replenish water lost to evaporation and transpiration (ET) in the landscape.

Further, our contact with different contractors and homeowners since last fall has introduced us to new suppliers in South Florida for all the sundry irrigation equipment we use in installations and retrofits. This should mean sturdier, if not less expensive, installs this year.

…tomorrow, the world!

One additional matter we are very excited about is the recent acquisition of some high-powered computer hardware. The UCU now has access to a brand new iMac! Harnessing this machine's capabilites will both strengthen and refine our video and multi-media educational and promotional work.

Let’s get it!

With three homeowner properties already on board for the study of “smart” irrigation controllers, the 2011 WUEP irrigation research project is full-speed ahead! Installs and much more commence in April. Stay tuned!

Water Quality Course 2011 (revisited)

From February 21 – 25, UF/IFAS TREC in Homestead, FL, hosted the 2011 Water Quality Course (WQC).

Meeting of minds

Over five days, leading scientists and experts from state and federal academic and regulatory bodies (UF, SFWMD, NOAA, USGS & USDA ARS) presented on various topics related to water quality monitoring program planning, conducting and evaluating.

Hands-on

Formal presentations were supplemented with hands-on activities. Field and equipment experts demonstrated cutting-edge technology employed in both water sampling and water sample analysis.

On-location learning

Given TREC’s location amidst the water quality monitoring mecca that is South Florida, undoubtedly the WQC included site visits to key places of interest for instruction, demonstrations, and recreation.

Looking ahead

The WQC concluded with break-out groups convened to explore possible future research collaboration opportunities among course participants.

Something else to look forward to from these five days in Homestead: the video work generated by the UF documentation team present during the entire course.

Acknowledgements

This year’s Water Quality Course was an unqualified success. In addition to all the participants’ interest and enthusiasm, this was largely due to the efforts of TREC’s Water Resource and Soil Science teams, who worked tirelessly in the preceding weeks to provide the infrastructure for all course events (and who also captured the images featured in this post).

KWM TREC website

Group,
I have updated some materials on the website (http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/kwm). Please take a moment to review and tell me if you find things I should update (overlooked) or things that are incorrect.

Also - please remember to BLOG and keep us up to date on what exiciting things you are doing (Nic? Richard? Luis? etc....)

Have a great weekend!