The Difficulties of Watering Your Lawn While Conserving Water

Orange County, FL, is facing a looming water crisis. The St. Johns River Water Management District has determined that the county, which includes metropolitan Orlando, will reach the limit of its consumptive use permit in 2013 and no additional groundwater withdrawals will be allowed. The largest waste of potable water is in the landscape, specifically on the lawn. Homeowners can’t keep up with home owner association demands and do not understand the maintenance needs of their yards or the technology of their irrigation system. The most common response for homeowners is to set their irrigation timer and forget it, not making adjustments based on rainfall or the needs of the lawn. Traditional public education programs used by County Extension offices face a daunting task when confronted with these complicated behaviors and attitudes. Several classes were held. Participants were taught about how much water, when to water and the efficiency of irrigation systems. Each class had 15 irrigation clocks all functioning. Participants worked in small groups based on the type of clock they had at home. All participants touched the clock and made adjustments.  Pre-test of current knowledge score was 20% out of 100 and the post-test score was 85% (a 65% gain in knowledge).  Results from the classes pre-test and post-test prompted the use of a survey called Your Florida Yard and You. The goal was to understand how Floridians think about their yards and care for them. A fifty question survey was mailed to addresses that were identified as high water users by their water utilities company. A total of 1000 surveys were mailed and 292 were completed and returned. The survey data will be discussed and the survey results will be used in the near future to create a program using community based social marketing concepts to increase water conservation behavior by home owners with automated irrigation systems.