As part of the 2007 Pacific Northwest Regional Water Issues Survey we asked the public in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington about water use in their yards. Over 1,000 randomly selected residents of our region completed this survey. Barbara J. Andersen, a Ph.D. graduate student in the Environmental Science Program at the University of Idaho, evaluated the yard water use data shown below. Yard Water Use Based on the survey results over 83 percent of Pacific Northwest residents water some part of their yards in the summer. Of the respondents that indicated that they water their yards, almost two-thirds (66 percent) water their lawns, more than half (53 percent) water their gardens, and almost half (48 percent) water their landscaping. State of residence had a significant effect on yard watering. Idaho residents were the most likely to water their yards (96 percent), followed by Oregon (86 percent), Washington (80 percent), and Alaska (70 percent). Idaho residents were also most likely to water their lawns (90 percent) and landscaping (60 percent) in the summer compared to residents of Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. The effect of state of residence on the practice of summer yard watering, summer lawn watering, and summer landscape watering. State Yard watering Lawn watering Landscape watering ------------------------------------- % --------------------------------------- Alaska 70 51 30 Idaho 96 90 60 Oregon 86 64 52 Washington 80 59 45 Water Conservation Practices The regional survey was designed to gauge the use of water conservation practices in yards in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The survey found that the majority of homeowners used at least three water conservation practices in their yards. The most frequently used water conservation practice was watering only in the evening or early morning (71 percent), followed by sweeping sidewalks, driveways, and decks instead of washing them down with water (57 percent), and less lawn watering (53 percent). Other water conservation practices frequently used by Pacific Northwest residents in their yards include: (1) using an irrigation system timer (34 percent), (2) using native or drought tolerant plants in their landscape (29 percent), (3) decreased lawn area (28 percent), and (4) the increased use of drip irrigation for gardens and landscaping (25 percent).

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Charlotte Clausing: 360-392-4319 cclausing@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	The Project Land Grant Universities, Water Research Institutes and EPA Region 10 have formed a partnership to provide research and education to communities about protecting or restoring the quality of water resources. This partnership is being supported in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Our Goal and Approach The goal of this Project is to provide leadership for water resources research, education and outreach to help people, industry and governments to prevent and solve current and emerging water quality and quantity problems. The approach to achieving this goal is for the Partners to develop a coordinated regional water quality effort based on, and strengthening, individual state programs. Our Strengths The Project promotes regional collaboration by acknowledging existing programs and successful efforts; assessing program gaps; identifying potential issues for cross-agency and private sector collaboration, and developing a clearinghouse of expertise and programs. In addition, the Project establishes or enhances partnerships with federal, state and local environmental and water resource management agencies, such as by placing a University Liaison within the offices of EPA Region 10.
	The frequency of water conservation practices being employed by homeowners in the Pacific Northwest. Conservation practice Percent using practice Watering only in the evening or early morning 71 Sweeping sidewalks, decks, and sidewalks 57 Less lawn watering 53 Irrigation system timer 34 Native or drought tolerant plants 29 Decreased lawn area 28 Drip irrigation 25 Summary Most Pacific Northwest residents water some part of their yard, most often the lawn. However, many people in the region practice residential landscape water conservation. Because residential landscape uses of water compose a large portion of municipal water use, understanding current uses and conservation practices, motivations to conserve water, and obstructions to conserving water is essential. The findings indicate that climate matters—water conservation is more widely practiced in the drier parts of the Pacific Northwest (Idaho, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon). People are already using the most convenient and low-cost water conservation practices. Barriers to water conservation do not exist for most people. One of our goals as the Pacific Northwest Water Resources Team is to develop appropriate educational programs using this survey information. This survey shows that homeowners are currently addressing water concerns on an individual basis in all four states of the region. The easy portion of home water conservation has already been done using these easy-to-use conservation practices. Our challenge is to continue to increase water conservation in urban areas as the region’s population will continue to climb over the next several decades.
	National Water Quality Program Areas The four land grant universities in the Pacific Northwest have aligned our water resource extension and research efforts with eight themes of the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Animal Waste Management Drinking Water and Human Health Environmental Restoration Nutrient and Pesticide Management Pollution Assessment and Prevention Watershed Management Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Management Water Policy and Economics
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No 2008-51130-4734.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on July 31, 2008