In a tough economy, one way to stay ahead of the competition is to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, research, and practices in the industry for which you work. For the landscaping business, this is especially true. As the housing market remains stalled, new landscape installations and maintenance accounts are often hard to come by, and competition for customers is fierce. Therefore, programs that provide continuing education and training—especially at an affordable price—are all the more important and relevant for businesses today.

Enter Smartscape: A training program for landscape professionals
Sponsored by the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (a Water – Use It Wisely partner) and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Maricopa County, Smartscape is a green jobs training program providing 20 hours of instruction on the proper irrigation and care for water-efficient landscapes in the Sonoran Desert.

Over the eight Smartscape sessions, instructors from the University of Arizona, municipal water departments, and the landscape industry present the latest research-based information regarding sustainable landscaping practices.

“We find the Smartscape program provides the updated training our employees need to keep our customers informed, as well as keeping us leaps and bounds ahead of the competition,” states Jill Gilbert, Customer Relations Manager for AZ Royal Landscaping and Design.

Smartscape professionals promote sustainable practices
Instruction on sustainable landscaping practices can help companies cut back on clients’ water use, where up to 70% of a residential water bill is devoted to outdoor uses such as landscapes and pools. By helping reduce outdoor water consumption, Smartscape graduates help homeowners save where it counts—in their wallet.

In addition, Smartscape attendees are trained on the fundamentals of designing, installing, and maintaining low-water-use landscapes compatible with our desert environment. Using landscape plants that are adapted to the climate and soils of the Sonoran Desert can make for a lower maintenance yard, which saves clients valuable time and energy.

“Smartscape is a comprehensive program, packed with useful information, taught by an all-star team of Valley landscape professionals, in a format anyone can understand, and built around our typical work schedule,” says Bryan Wallace, Vice President of Operations at Victor’s Landscaping Inc. and a Smartscape Certified Professional.

Online directory connects graduates to customers
To help Smartscape professionals market their training, graduates have the option to be included in the Smartscape Certified Professional Online Directory, found at http://www.amwua.org/ss_directory.html. The Online Directory allows homeowners to find a Smartscape Certified Professional in their area. As more homeowners want to save money and time in their yard, businesses and individuals who market their Smartscape training have another “leg up” on the competition.

Next class starts this month
The next Smartscape course will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3:30-6:00 P.M., January 23- February 15, 2012. All classes will be held at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Maricopa County, 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040. The registration fee for the entire series is $75.00. Please contact Haley Paul at smartscape@cals.arizona.edu or (602) 827-8200 x395 if you are a landscape professional interested in taking the course or sending your employees to the course. Also visit the Smartscape website to download and print a registration flyer: http://extension.arizona.edu/maricopa/smartscape-program.

Find Smartscape on Facebookand Twitter too!

From time to time, WUIW features guest bloggers who write about water conservation and education. Haley Paul is our guest blogger this week. Smartscape is co-sponsored by AMWUA, a WUIW partner.

Furthermore, since up to 70% of your water use is outdoors, choosing a xeriscape landscape for your yard can help you conserve water and save on your utility bills.

Watch the interview on “Your Life A to Z” on local Channel 3 here:

Don’t forget to take the Online Home Water Challenge! It’s a great how-to video on how to look for leaks and fix them, as well as other water saving tips and tricks.

Stay tuned for our next segment “Fall Planting with Color”!

Water – Use It Wisely is being featured on Arizona’s local Channel 3′s Your Life A to Z with some easy and practical ways to save water. Arizona Regional Campaign Water Partner, the City of Mesa, sent their Conservation Specialist, Donna DiFrancesco, to be interviewed by Lisa Haffner on this special segment on outdoor water use.

Check out the video on our YouTube Channel here:

For more information about landscape care and to see our landscape guides, please click here.

Next week’s segment: Take The Home Water Challenge and Find Those Sneaky Leaks. Stay tuned!

Check out the video on our YouTube Channel here:

For more information about overseeding, read our blog post on the topic here.

Next week’s segment: Reduce Your Outdoor Water Use. Stay tuned!

Photos and plant charts help you with plant selection.

1. Xeriscape is defined as water efficient, creative landscaping that guides you with seven landscape principles to create a beautiful, healthy and water efficient yard. And, no! It’s not just rocks and cactus. Details can be found in Xeriscape: Landscaping with Style in the Arizona Desert.
2. Use Water Thrifty Plants like the bold, armored agaves or like the fragrant-flowered acacias. There are hundreds of beautiful low-water-use plants that are available for our region of the Sonoran Desert. Learn more from Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert.
3. Water Efficiently to reduce your water use by 30-50%. If you’ve used the Xeriscape principles and planted low-water-use plants, it’s even more important to make sure you are watering properly. It is very common by residents and even commercial landscapers to over water desert landscapes. Check out our Landscape Watering by the Numbers: A Guide for the Arizona Desert.

Proper watering techniques are provided for all types of Arizona landscapes.

These resources are all available online, but free booklets are also available. All fifteen Water – Use It Wisely regional partners, offer these guides to their water customers. Contact information is available on our partner page.

Our three must-have guides.

The Average Arizonan uses 136 gallons of water per day

Q: I have a concern about high water usage.  We have lots of mature landscaping, but artificial turf (no grass), a fairly large pool, hot tub, 3 full baths; a 1/2 bath.  There are 3 people in our home; I am home a lot during the day.  Is 24,000 gallons of usage for the month of August something to be concerned about?  It seems like an awful lot.  What can we do??

A: Thank you for your interest in saving water and concerns for your household water use.

Let’s look at your daily per person usage. If you used 24,000 gallons, we’ll divide by 3 people = 8,000 gallons per person per month. Let’s divide 8,000 by 31= 258 gallons per person per day. Yep, that’s a lot!

Of course August is a very hot month and I suspect that a lot of the water is being used in the landscape or swimming pool (glad to hear you don’t have grass though).

You can easily be losing 3,400 gallons in your pool alone during August due to evaporation and about 17,000 gallons would be typical water needs in August for a very large landscape of about 10,000 square feet. Add the two together and you already have over 20,000 gallons, so your outdoor use might be why your bill was so high. However, I’m just guessing on your landscape size and I’m not sure if you live in Arizona or another climate. There are always other things to check.

• Look around for leaks
• Listen for running backwash water around water treatment appliances
• Check to see if your irrigation timer has been set properly
• Check to make sure you are watering properly with our Landscape Watering Guide
• Check your toilet for leaks, trickling sounds or water moving in the bowl
• Check your pool for leaks, especially if you have an automatic pool refiller
• Browse through our 100-tips at Water – Use It Wisely
• Take our Home Water Challenge, then visit the links at the end to see how you can reduce your water use

Another helpful brochure is our High Water Use Action Plan. It can help you figure out where all that water might be going.

Good luck and I hope you’re well on your way to reducing your water use at your home.

Donna DiFrancesco is a Conservation Specialist with the City of Mesa, Environmental & Sustainability Division where she educates Mesa, Arizona residents about xeriscape, water conservation, living green and sustainability. She is also a member of the Water – Use It Wisely regional campaign steering committee.

Water – Use It Wisely founder, Park Howell was named the 2010 “Ad Person of the Year” at the 25th Annual ADDY Awards held this past weekend in Phoenix. The ADDY’s are an extension of the American Advertising Federation and are held each year to recognize the top advertising campaigns and individuals in the state.

It was great to see Park recognized by his peers for his contributions to the industry over the last 25 years. But the most gratifying part of Park’s win is being recognized for the difference he’s made in the community and his passion for causes, including Water – Use It Wisely.

Park’s been instrumental in growing Water – Use It Wisely from its humble beginnings in Arizona to one of the world’s largest water conservation campaigns. It’s Park’s drive that’s given rise to Water – Use Wisely and it’s what ultimately won him the “Ad Person of the Year” too. Knowing Park he’s likely to deflect any praise to those who’ve worked with him throughout the years but we’d like to take the time to recognize him for his victory and all of his accomplishments. Congratulations Park! You deserve it. Check out the official press release here.

The project, “Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communications investigates the effect of communication tools and strategies on residential water use and water conservation behavior of residential customers…” Basically, that’s a fancy way of asking if the stuff organizations like Water – Use It Wisely so passionately promotes resonates with its audience.

We invite you to take a look at the entire study for a comprehensive look at the results but a peak into a few insights are certainly encouraging. Below are a few results pulled from the Phoenix portion of the study (Water – Use it Wisely’s hope base):

• “There are a number of ways to save water and they all start with you” message was seen or heard by 75% of survey respondents.
• “Water your plants deeply, but less frequently to create healthier and stronger landscapes” message was seen or heard by 69% of survey respondents.
• “Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway or sidewalk and save 80 gallons of water every time” message was seen or heard by 61% of respondents.
• Customers that reported that “air pollution” is an environmental concern in the community were associated with lower water use.
• Customers that found sales associates at hardware stores “rarely credible” or “not credible” were associated with lower water use.

It’s encouraging to see that our message is being heard and we’re truly grateful to those passing that message along. It’s because of you that we’re making a difference so let’s turn it up a notch. Help us spread our message even farther in 2010.

Second is a recent feature in the CBS News series “Where America Stands,” entitled, “America’s Dwindling Water Supply.” The article details some sobering facts including how the U.S.’s water use stacks up against the rest of the world. According to the article Americans average using 150 gallons of water per day with 30 gallons being used by 9 a.m. Compare that to the 40 gallons of water per day used in the U.K. and 13 gallons per day used in some of the worlds poorest countries and it seems we’ve got a lot of work to do.

The rest of the article points to how we got here and what we can do to make a difference. There’s even a link to the Water – Use It Wisely tips page as a resource for how to get started. While there is certainly an urgency to make a difference now, the good thing is there are plenty of easy ways to make a huge difference. Our job here is to help you understand that. But remember, no tip or resource works without your commitment. It doesn’t take much, just a little time and a little effort and we can turn this thing around in a hurry.