Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID UT_2023_Sowby

Enhancing Urban Irrigation Analysis in Utah with Remote Sensing

Institute: Utah
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $34,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $34,000

Principal Investigators: Robert Sowby

Project Summary: Making irrigation efficient in cities is difficult because the irrigated areas are small and irregular, water users are amateur, water use is often not measured, and many types of landscape plants with different water needs exist. We propose to study images previously collected by planes or satellites to determine how much area in certain Utah cities is irrigated and to combine the images with information about how much water the plants actually need to grow. In doing so, we can estimate the water use necessary to sustain these urban landscapes. We can then compare the results with actual water use and see how residents are over- or underwatering. We hope the process could eventually be automated to help water managers and water customers decide how to best use scarce water resources.