H.B. 1656, a bill mandating all cities with populations of 20,000 or more to regulate irrigators and irrigation systems, was signed into Texas law June 2007. The new law, requiring the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to adopt rules which will go into effect January 2009, proposes that:

• Each participating city adopts standards and specifications for designing, installing, and operating irrigation systems.
• Irrigation installations receive onsite supervision by a licensed individual.
• All new installations undergo inspection and approval by a licensed irrigation inspector (from the municipality or associated water district) or licensed plumbing inspector.

“Texas irrigators will have to do away with ‘comfort zone’ installations, and ensure proper head spacing, uniformity, and pressure requirements are met,” said Jeffrey Knight, education manager for Ewing Irrigation and a Texas Licensed Irrigator. “Irrigators can no longer cut corners. There will be a new system for checks and balances for our industry.”

The TCEQ, the law’s governing body, has conceptualized several proposed requirements under the new law, but the two primary propositions that stirred up debate at the law’s rulemaking hearing in Austin on February 26 deal with the “supervision” and “inspection” of an installation.

To ensure the minimum standards and specifications for designing, installing and operating irrigation systems are met by irrigators, the proposed rules indicate that each installation will need to be accompanied with “on-the-job oversight and direction” by a licensed individual.

With the current rules, the law states that each municipality must require a written design to pull the permit for a jobsite. When the job is completed, the rules advise that the corrections are recorded on an as-built diagram.

“The one-man show might go out of business,” said John Schwartz, owner of Amarillo Sprinklers. “Requiring designs is going to add more expense to small businesses and require them to work nights and weekends to keep up on the paperwork associated with designs.”

The proposed rule to have a licensed individual present during the installation, repair, alteration or service of an irrigation system prompted the TCEQ to create a new license classification—the irrigation technician license—in order to meet expected statewide demand for the installation of irrigation systems. This license would phase out the installer license and require all licensed installers to obtain an irrigation technician license before January 1, 2010.

“Individuals holding a current installer license will be able to continue to perform their current duties until December 31, 2009, but will not be able to perform the expanded duties of the irrigator technician,” said Candy Garrett, rule project manager for the TCEQ Landscape Irrigation Program.

In regards to the proposed “inspection” requirement, the rules state that the jobsite may need to be inspected and approved by a licensed plumbing or irrigation inspector from the city or associated water district.The TCEQ estimates license exam fees and training costs for a first-year licensed irrigation inspector will be $1,300.

Due to the overarching authority of the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, the TCEQ cannot impose additional training on plumbing professionals, but according to Erwin, he is not going to send his crew into the field without training them about the inner-workings of an irrigation system.

“Each city ordinance or set of rules must adopt TCEQ rules at a minimum, but may go beyond TCEQ requirements,” Garrett said. “For example, the City of Dallas requires a freeze sensor, but the proposed TCEQ rules do not require freeze sensors. An inspection checklist for the City of Dallas would probably include a freeze sensor. It is important that irrigators are aware of local requirements in addition to the minimum TCEQ requirements.”

The ramifications for breaking the new regulations will be determined at the local level. Local jurisdiction may include fines, the barring of a licensed irrigation professional from pulling permits or other administrative implications.