In the June issue of Total Landscape Care, we devoted 10 pages to a special report on the economy. When I began research into this month’s equally gritty topic – the drought and how landscape professionals can do their part to improve the nation’s dwindling fresh water supply – I saw a connection between the land and the economy. As I scanned hundreds of drought images posted on the EPA’s Web site, I saw images from 2008 showing the wide dirt banks of desiccated Lake Lanier – the main water source for metro Atlanta. There is a photo of a drained man-made pond – liner exposed – intended to serve as an “amenity” for a new subdivision in Tennessee where nobody was buying. And there are numerous images of pitiful dusty croplands in Oklahoma.

I had the strange feeling I’d seen these images before. A quick Google search of “American Dust Bowl” and there they were – black and white photos from the 1930s of dried up crops, cattle skeletons half buried in dust, and haggard-looking Midwestern families with their worldly possessions loaded into spindly trucks heading west. Formerly fertile agricultural land became shifting sand dunes and thousands of towns in the Great Plains were abandoned as people migrated in search of water and jobs. As ill fate would have it, the Dust Bowl coincided with the Great Depression. The land, the economy, and our society are inextricably linked.

We’re not quite out of the woods on either hardship – the drought or the economy – but there have been signs of improvement to both. Of course the term “drought” is relative. Our average rainfall in North Alabama is 54 inches. When I was touring the dusty landscapes with a Phoenix landscaper, I think my jaw hit the dry, hard-pan ground when he announced their annual precipitation was in the neighborhood of 4 inches. Alabama can get that in a single day if a good tropical storm blows up from the Gulf of Mexico. That’s why this contractor was doing a thriving business installing drip irrigation with grey water as a source.

In a phone conversation I had with irrigation expert Tim Malooley, I was struck by his comment: “Nobody expects an irrigation contractor to turn out landscape plans, but nobody gives a second thought to landscape contractors churning out irrigation designs.” Although I did not admit it to Tim, I am as guilty as anyone. In my career as a landscape designer, I sketched out irrigation plans that were installed and are probably still trickling water onto sidewalks today. After 10 or 20 years of unchecked use, those trickles add up to thousands of gallons of water.

Irrigation installation presents a golden opportunity for landscape professionals, facing a dry economy and drought-prone landscape. If you’re considering adding it to your services or if you’re already sketching out irrigation plans, join the Irrigation Association and learn the latest on drip irrigation, grey water, rainwater collection, smart controllers, and prudent plant selection. Companies such as Rain Bird and Toro also conduct seminars. You’ll be doing yourself – and the world – a big favor.