Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2003TX88B

Predicting Water Use in Urban Residential Landscapes

Institute: Texas
Year Established: 2003 Start Date: 2003-03-01 End Date: 2004-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $4,182 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Roger Havlak, Richard White

Project Summary: Cities and urban areas need conservation strategies that lessen landscape water use. Although irrigation requirements have been quantified for turfgrasses, little has been done to study the water needs of other landscape species. The goal of this project is to develop a landscape irrigation model that can evaluate water use relationships when multiple landscape plants are present. This study will instrument landscapes that feature several different landscape plants with moisture sensors, will survey homeowners about their landscapes and how they water them, and will determine water requirements of several landscapes at different sites.