Rain Bird program has GCSAA, EIFG flavor

Rain Bird has kicked off its annual Intelligent Use of Water Awards program, and this year, it's getting a boost from the world of golf course management.

GCSAA and its philanthropic arm, the Environmental Institute for Golf, have signed on as a partner in this effort, along with a host of other partners including the American Society of Golf Course Architects, Pebble Beach Resorts and the Alliance for Water Efficiency, among others. What that means is that GCSAA communication vehicles — like GCM and our blog — will be helping to spread the word about the awards program, which will award more than $50,000 to water conservation and environmental sustainability projects that promote green spaces.

This year's awards will be driven by the power of the Internet and social media. In a nutshell, participants with designs on creating a water conservation project that supports sustainability and green spaces will log on and sign up under one of three funding categories ($1,500, $5,000 or $10,000). They'll describe the desired project, upload photos or a YouTube video about it and then invite friends, family and others to vote for the project through online social networks. The project with the most votes in each funding category will be awarded grants to be used toward the completion of the winning project.

The above video provides more details about the awards program, and you can always head over to www.iuowawards.com for even more. And considering the new roles of GCSAA and EIFG in the program, you can expect to see more updates here, in the pages of GCM or in GCSAA e-newsletters such as This Week.