On the week of March 28-April 4, the lobby of the Irvine Ranch Water District’s Sand Canyon office will be transformed into an art gallery featuring the winning Water Awareness posters of students from all over Southern California.

The display includes the winners of the 2016 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s poster contest. Among the work on display is the artwork of Melody Yu, who was a third grader at Turtle Rock Elementary School at the time of the contest.

Melody’s artwork and the other 35 winning posters will be displayed in the IRWD lobby and available for public viewing during regular business hours: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The students, their parents and teachers were invited to a ceremony at Metropolitan’s Los Angeles office in December. The winning art work was framed and on display in the building’s rotunda. Winning posters were published in the 2017 Water is Life calendar.

The traveling art show began in January and is making its way around various water agencies all over Southern California. The show will conclude the end of July and the framed artwork returned to the participating agencies.

IRWD has participated in the annual poster contest since its inception more than 20 years ago and has had at least one winner each year. More information about IRWD education programs is available on our website.

If it’s spring, it’s time to think about planting. There is a host of workshops to help you get started.

Have you ever wanted to compost, but weren’t where to begin? Orange County Master Gardeners will teach you traditional composting and vermicomposting (using worms). The event will be held outside in the composting demonstration area of the South Coast Research and Extension Center, 7601 Irvine Boulevard, Irvine. Workshops are limited to 20 participants and held on Wednesdays, March 29 or April 26, 3-5 p.m.

In honor of Earth Day, Plants for the Planet Workshop is scheduled for Thursday, April 13, 6-8 p.m. at the IRWD headquarters office, 15600 Sand Canyon Avenue, Irvine. Select the right plants for your landscape. Experts will discuss California native and non-native drought tolerant species, seasonal water needs, and cultural care tips for these plants.

Signups for the workshops required at rightscapenow.com/events.

Four students who participated in the Irvine Unified School District’s science fair on February 28 were selected for honors by Irvine Ranch Water District for their water-related science fair projects.

IRWD has been involved in the science fair since its inception more than 30 years ago. District professionals have assisted, whether it’s advising during Ask-a-Scientist Night, or judging the water-related science fair projects.

Of the several hundred entries, more than 30 were water-related. Some examined various methods of desalination, some examined irrigation controllers and others conducted experiments on removing certain constituents from water.

The students will be honored at the June 12 IRWD Board of Directors meeting. Judging this year were David Cole and Jessica Tron of the IRWD Water Quality Laboratory, assisted by Melinda Bergen, supervisor in the chemistry section of the lab.

Students whose projects were selected are:

• Aurnon Chattopadhay, University High School, “Efficient Removal of Pb, Cd, and Ud from Water”
• Ainesh Arumugan, grade 10, University High School, “Smart Irrigation Controller” (this is Ainesh’s second consecutive year as a winner)
• Sabreen Alam, grade 7, Jeffrey Trail Middle School, “Mediated vs. Unmediated Microbal Fuel Cells”
• Aditi Mundra, grade 6, Canyon View Elementary School, “Solar Desalination-Does Temperature vs. Time of Day Affect the Amount of h20 Purified?”

For more information on the IRWD educational programs, please visit our website.

Evenings are about to become lighter beginning Sunday, March 12, as we set our clocks forward one hour in observance of daylight saving time.

Remember to make this adjustment to your clocks before you go to bed Saturday night.

The semi-annual time changes coincide with seasonal changes in weather, when irrigation controllers and sprinkler times should change. Water use lowers as the weather cools, and increases as weather warms, so it’s a good idea to check your controller at the same time you change your clocks.

To ensure that your service is not interrupted, change the batteries in your controllers, as well. Most controllers use a 9-volt battery to maintain the programmed schedule in the case of power outage. When the controller battery dies, the schedule automatically resets to the factory default of watering 10 minutes a day, seven days a week.

And while you are changing out your irrigation controller battery, it’s also a good time to change out the batteries in your home smoke detectors.