Rick Reinders: Watertronics’ High-Quality Pump Systems and Controls for the Irrigation Market
An 18,000-gallon-per-minute station with 350-horsepower motors.
W
isconsin-based Watertronics provides a wide variety of pump stations, control panels, and telemetry products for the agricultural, industrial/ municipal, landscape irrigation, and golf irrigation markets. In this interview, Watertronics Co-CEO Rick Reinders tells us about the company’s commitment to quality and service and its offerings for the irrigation market. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background, your family, and the origin of Watertronics.
14 | IRRIGATION LEADER | July/August 2022
Irrigation Leader: What markets is Watertronics active in? Rick Reinders: Our four main markets are the agriculture, industrial/municipal, landscape, and golf irrigation sectors. In addition to supplying pumping stations to these markets, we also provide water reuse systems, including rainwater harvesting, water filtration, desalination, and purification systems. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about some of your main product lines. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF WATERTRONICS.
Rick Reinders: Watertronics began in 1987 as a division of Reinders Inc., my family’s business, a green industry distributor of turf and irrigation supplies in the Midwest. Our company was originally founded in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, in 1866. Over the years, it evolved from a general store to a milling operation, and eventually became the green industry wholesale distributor that exists today. As Watertronics grew, its capital needs and sales geography necessitated that it become an
independent company. That separation occurred in 1994. The business grew over the years, and when my father wanted to retire, we sold the business to Lindsay Corporation in 2008. My business partner, Chip Carlson, and I stayed on to run it for over 9 years. We were fortunate to be able to buy back the company in 2018 and to continue to grow Watertronics as a global leader in the package-pump-station market.
