Do We Need Installed Irrigation on Long Island?

• As a suburban community, lawns, shrubbery and other kinds of floriculture increase the value of Long Island homes.
• Lawns, shrubbery and other floriculture all need to be irrigated during dry weather.
• Floriculture adds $202 million annually to the New York State economy.
• Suffolk is the top agricultural county in New York ($288 million annually) and floriculture adds significantly to that total.
• Installed irrigation allows homeowners to enhance the value of their most important investments – their homes – while reducing the amount of time and effort required to do so. INSTALLED IRRIGATION HELPS PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
• Properly installed automatic irrigation systems actually help protect water quality.
• A properly irrigated lawn is healthier and more resistant to insects, fungus and weeds. Hence, less fertilizer, and fewer pesticides, fungicides and herbicides need to be applied.
• The Suffolk County Water Authority has developed an integrated program of organic lawn care and watering practices for homeowners.
• Because they are on timers, automatic systems can be set to start early in the morning before most people are awake, which places less demand on pipeline capacity.
• Installed irrigation can also be set to comply with the odd-even programs most water suppliers have in place.
• Professionally installed systems have rain sensors, to prevent an automatic system from activating in the middle of a rain storm. DOES INSTALLED IRRIGATION DEPLETE THE AQUIFERS?
• According to the Long Island Groundwater Institute, there are more than 70 trillion gallons in our underground aquifers.
• About 375 million gallons a day are pumped for public, domestic, industrial and irrigation uses.
• One-third of that is recharged directly back into the ground – meaning we actually use only 250 million gallons.
• That represents only three ten thousandths of one percent (.0003%) of the total.
• An average of 1,600 million gallons a day falls as precipitation. • 480 million gallons of that flow directly out to sea.
• Almost twice as much flows out to sea each day, as is used to sustain the way we live – irrigation included.
• Installed irrigation DOES NOT deplete Long Islandʼs aquifers.

For further information contact: Tom Shanahan – THE SHANAHAN GROUP – 518–732–3312 tom@shanahangroup.com industry and consumer