URGENT IRRIGATION LAW UPDATE

We have been notified that NJ Code 464 has gone into effect and will be enforced.

What does this law state? The new law states that it is now illegal to sell or install spray irrigation heads that are not either within the scope of the US EPA’s WaterSense program or are pressure regulating. 

What does this mean for you?

The issue that arises with this new law is that going forward, we are no longer legally allowed to replace any spray irrigation heads with non-pressure regulating type spray irrigation heads. This means that if you have regular spray irrigation heads on your site, those cannot be replaced with the same type of spray irrigation head. They will have to be replaced with an approved, pressure regulating spray irrigation head. The conundrum that now arises is that if you replace a regular spray irrigation head on a zone with a pressure regulating spray irrigation head and the rest of the spray irrigation heads are the regular type, it will no longer work correctly or efficiently. You will either be watering too much in part of the zone or not enough in part of the zone. 

What can you do?

There are 2 options. The first option is to replace all regular type spray irrigation heads on the zone with approved pressure regulating spray irrigation heads. This will allow the zone to water as efficiently as the design allows, will save you water and water costs, and most importantly will comply with the new law. 

The second option is to replace only the regular type spray irrigation head that needs replacement with an approved pressure regulating spray irrigation head and leave the other remaining non-pressure regulating spray irrigation heads as is. If you choose this option, you will need to understand that this zone will no longer work correctly or efficiently, and there will be issues with both over and/or under-watering. If you are a Customer of Environmental Designers Irrigation, Inc., we will ask you to sign an acknowledgment of this if the situation arises, confirming you understand that through no control of the irrigation contractor, there will, most likely, be issues on that zone.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this, we would be happy to discuss them with you. We also have provided a link to the NJ Code here for you, as shown on the Irrigation Association of NJ’s website. NJ Irrigation Pressure Regulating Spray IrrigationHead Code.

Sincerely,

Gaetano Virone, CID, CIC, CLIA, CLWCM
President/CEO
NJDEP LIC #0018487
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