Alan Harris

Alan Harris is a water management pioneer. With roots in landscape architecture, Alan has worked with irrigation throughout his career experimenting with hydrozones and a variety of high efficiency irrigation systems. Now, over thirty years in the landscape industry, Alan continues to stay apprised of the latest technology even in a sales leadership capacity as our Director of Sales Operations and Regional Sales Leader for our landscape maintenance division. In addition to his contributions to this blog, Alan keeps his hand in water management as a regular contributor to Lawn & Landscape Magazine.

Growing up, Alan was protected from the drought that hit his local community due to access to his family water well at which time Alan learned how water distribution can impact supply. A fervent debater, Alan enjoys playing devil’s advocate when discussing topics on water shortages. He gardens and plays tennis in his spare time when he’s not participating in ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) or CAI (Community Associations Institute) functions. At home, Alan collects rain to water his garden. Alan on Google+

  • 2 Broken Heads via @IMSh2o
    03.18.14

    5 Steps to Get Smart: Fix a Leak this Week

    March 17 – 23 is the official EPA WaterSense Fix a Leak Week. Coincidentally, this week Richard Restuccia and I are presenting to 50 Green Knights, who are the champions of sustainability for CBRE. Last week Richard and I were discussing the presentation with Lisa Colicchio, Director of Operations, Sustainability for CBRE. The main topic of our presentation is improving water conservation through technology. However, before we go all smart controller and flow meter on the group, we will remind... MORE >

  • Water Ballons by Urbanicsgroup
    03.04.14

    10 Important Reasons Water is Better than Helium

    Even though Helium won an Oscar in 2014, water is still better. Some readers may wonder about the source of inspiration for this post. I read Flipboard on my iPad almost every night. I have several boards about water and several on business. One night while reading Forbes, an article about helium caught my attention. As I read the article I found myself mentally comparing helium with water. Balloons quickly popped in my head and seven more ideas followed. Irrigation and smart... MORE >

  • Sustainable Water Drop by William Warby
    02.18.14

    Best Sustainable Water Option for Irrigation

    What is the best sustainable water option for irrigation? Well (pun intended), it depends on where you live and whether you are building a new or retrofitting an existing irrigation system. But first let’s review sustainability.  What is Sustainability? There are 3 basic pillars of sustainability which must be considered and kept in balance: • Environmental • Social • Economic  Sustainable Water Source Options • Potable – traditionally the “go to” source for irrigation water. Metered, getting more expensive and for the last 100... MORE >

  • 7 Innovative Irrigation Products Photo
    01.28.14

    Top 7 Innovative Irrigation Products

    Top 7 innovative irrigation products in the past 5 years…says who? VCTO reached out to irrigation industry expert Brent Mecham who serves as the Industry Development Director for the Irrigation Association for his opinion. Prior to the last 6 years with the IA, Mecham spent over 13 years with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District as the Landscape Irrigation Management and Conservation Specialist. He also has a few initials (certifications) after his name including CAIS, CGIA, CIC, CID, CIT, CLIA and... MORE >

  • Top 5 Posts about Water Management from 2013
    01.14.14

    Top 5 Posts About Water Management from 2013

    2013 was a great year for water management posts on ValleyCrestTakesOn.com. A total of 53 posts about water management generated over 55,000 page views resulting from almost 35,000 visits. While most of the visits were from the United Sates, the reach was truly international. Top 5 Countries United States Canada United Kingdom India Australia As might be expected, the people most interested in water management and water conservation were from areas of the country experiencing severe drought thus showing once... MORE >

  • Recycled Christmas Tree
    12.24.13

    Remember: Recycle Christmas Tree

    The holidays will soon be winding down and the Yule* tree will need to find a new home. This was originally posted in 2011, so if you went the fake tree route you have 8 more years to use your tree  to be sustainable. However, if you used a fresh cut tree remember you can still be green if you recycle your Christmas Tree. When it comes to tree selection this Holiday season, how sustainable are you? Unless your tree... MORE >

  • Sad Santa
    12.19.13

    Santa is Blue this Christmas! The New Norm?

    Don’t worry Santa is not depressed, nor has he suddenly decided to take up the Blue Crusade for Water…though Richard certainly has Santa scurrying to fulfill his water management wishes. Santa is blue this year because WestJet Airlines decided to put Santa in a blue suit for what can only be described as an absolutely brilliant and heart touching marketing campaign with over 30 million views. If you have not seen the video, be sure to have a box of... MORE >

  • Steven Tyler, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, and Tony Robbins
    12.10.13

    Water Stress, Aerosmith, Ford, Einstein & Tony Robbins

    What does water stress have to do with Aerosmith, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein and Tony Robbins? They have all been credited¹ with a variation of the saying “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” The second half of the truism, “you’ll always get what you always got” applies to water stress. We got all the water we will ever get. Now, if we only “always do what we’ve always done” everything would be just fine.... MORE >

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