To ensure that water-saving technologies meet their full potential, conservation
programs must address behavioral variations. Some tackle the
problem by trying to make the technology as independent of the homeowner
as possible. A pilot study of irrigation controllers that are linked
to CIMIS stations and automatically respond to weather changes was
recently conducted in Orange County. These controllers allow the landscape
to be irrigated according to its climate needs without requiring any
involvement from the homeowner. The pilot program resulted in a 24
percent reduction in outdoor use (Hunt et al. 2001). Other conservation
programs emphasize proper use of the available tools through public
policy programs. These programs can include public education, outreach,
rebates, loans, and rate structures, among other things. Using these tools
alone, the Irvine Ranch Water District reduced overall landscape water
use by about 27 percent (Lessick, personal communication, 2002, Wong
1999). They later included soil probes and irrigation software (which
they continued to support with a public education program) and succeeded
in reducing use to 50 percent of baseline.
The projected savings for hardware improvements were applied to our
estimates of statewide use to get following potential savings (Table 3-6)
and projected to 2020 (Figure 3-3).