Toro takes a bow for water conservation

The Toro Company in Riverside is being credited with helping to conserve water statewide through its FreeSprinklerNozzles.com program.

That program, which was started in 2010 by the Riverside Public Utilities and Western Municipal Water District, has now retrofitted more than 1.3 million high-flow sprinkler nozzles with the Toro Precision Series high-efficiency spray nozzles, according to a Toro statement.

During its first five years, the conservation program is expected to save up to nine billion gallons of water in Southern California.

The nozzles reduced water flow in regular sprinkler systems by up to 35 percent without shortchanging the landscape being cared for, partly by slowing down the distribution of water. The slower flow of water also cuts down on irrigation runoff, according to the statement.

Homeowners and commercial entities can obtain vouchers from the website that allow them to exchange their regular sprinklers for the water conservation devices, which are available at several authorized distributorships in the Inland Empire.

Toro is paying for the program with funding provided by state and federal agencies, including the Metropolitan Water District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said Mike Baron, national specifications manager for Toro’s sprinkler division, which is base in Riverside.

“We think the program has been pretty successful, and it’s been helped by all of the education programs that have gone on along with it,’’ Baron said. “As long as the drought continues, we expect to continue to receive funding.”

Tim Barr, Deputy Director of Water Resources for the Western Municipal Water District in Riverside, praised Toro’s free sprinklers program.

“[It] has given residents the best of both worlds,” Barr said in a statement. “Keeping the functional turf they want while keeping water usage down.”

Toro is a worldwide manufacturer of turf-maintenance and water-saving equipment. It reported $2.2 billion in sales during fiscal year 2014, according to the statement.