Swan focuses on water savings

Responding to a persistent drought, Californians have cut back their fresh water usage by 29 percent. So you know they are interested in all manner of ways to save water.

Swan Products LLC sees water conservation as the future and it is filling a pressing need with its advanced watering systems. The Totowa, N.J., company is promoting conservation as it rebrands itself and rolls out upgraded garden watering systems.

Western North America is withering under an alarming drought and the residents are getting very serious about how they use water. The state of California is of course keeping an eye on the problem and it reports residential water savings in May amounted to 28.9 percent compared with May 2013.

“It is clear from this [monthly] report that many communities have made a commitment as Californians to scale back outdoor watering and conserve — and the effort shows,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of California's State Water Resources Control Board in a recent announcement.

Swan is marketing itself as “Swan — The Watering Company” and it is backing up the boast with new plastic hoses and other water delivery systems.

“The time is right to reposition ourselves as the leader of the category,” said Swan President and CEO Miguel Nistal in a phone interview. “We are upgrading the look and feel of our products.”

Swan is debuting this year its Element Soaker System, a modular watering kit that the company claims can save up to 70 percent of the water directed at residential gardens and lawns. Swan extrudes a polyethylene/rubber composite into 100-foot lengths which residents can cut to the specific needs of their garden and lawn layout. The system includes ergonomically designed couplings to attach to the lengths of hose snipped by the gardener. Tiny perforations in the hose spray water where and when it's needed most, eliminating most of the wastage that occurs when less precise systems scatter water in the hope it will fall where plants want it. Easy attachment of couplings is a key selling point for such systems.

The Element system is a variant of widely used soaker hoses that spray water onto soil within a radius of a few feet or so from the hose. Because a homeowner can snip the Element hose to any length, he or she can reduce the amount of water delivered to dead zones such as sidewalks and driveways.

“Soaker hoses are the fastest growing category, at about 15 to 18 percent a year,” Nistal said. That growth far surpasses the 2 to 3 percent annual expansion of households. Yet only about a quarter of North American homes have soaker hoses, according to Nistal.

The Element system is a high-end watering tool “for serious gardeners,” Nistal said. Swan extrudes its hoses in Waco, Texas, and in Sparks, Nevada. All of its extrusion lines contain coextruders to lay down two layers of polymer to comprise the hose core and jacket. Reinforcing yarn can be added in standard constructions.

“Our manufacturing plants are strategically located,” Nistal noted.

Several domestic watering hose manufacturers vie for market share. Nistal said imports aren't a big threat because freight charges are onerous for hose made offshore. A lot of air is in a coiled-up hose making its way by boat North America. Fittings, however, can be made cheaply elsewhere and imported. Getting the weather right also favors local hose production. Hot and dry spells compel consumers to react quickly to desiccation and so hose demand is elastic and seasonal.

“It's easy to get caught with too much hose or not enough in stock,” Nistal explained. About 85 percent of the domestic market is supplied by domestic producers.

Swan offers hose systems for a range of consumer needs and price points. The Element line, besides the aforementioned features, also can lay claim to be lead free and phthalate free, so consumers can be confident the products are drinking-water quality. Element is Swan's biggest volume hose.

The Scotts MaxFlex hose is Swan's top of the line. Made of a patented, specialized ultra-high molecular weight PVC compound, it provides exceptional kink resistance, according to Swan.

Miracle-Gro UltraLite hose is based on the same custom PVC compound but it is lightweight, easy to coil and well suited to watering around the house and in tight spaces,” Swan says.

Flexrite Pro is a premium product with the thickest jacket in Swan's hose lineup and it too resists bothersome kinking.

The company trumpets that it has regained its number one position in residential watering systems in North America. In addition to its own brands, Swan makes private label hose. Swan products are sold through mass retailers, garden stores and distributors.

Swan's soaker hoses weep water at a half gallon per minute, per foot, a rate that mimics a quarter-inch rainfall. They can deliver that water in 50 minutes, compared to two hours for traditional watering techniques.

Precision garden watering systems are a small part of California's conservation thrust. Between June 2014 and May 2015 Californian residents saved a total of 237 billion gallons of water, enough to supply 2.4 million state residents for a year.