AWWA SOURCES59250

This paper describes a variety of programs, primarily educational, to improve irrigation efficiency and promote water-wise (xeriscape) landscaping in Volusia County (east Central Florida, population 450,000). The Water Authority of Volusia, a consortium of water utilities and local governments in Volusia County, has used creative programming with limited budgets to attempt to reverse this trend toward excessive landscape irrigation use. The programs that are discussed in this paper to improve irrigation efficiency and further water-wise landscaping in new and existing homes include: rain sensor installation; irrigation efficiency education programs; education on water-wise plant selection through flyers, workshops, and displays; water-wise demonstration landscapes; videos; and Water-Wise Builders Awards. Water conservation awareness building programs of the Water Authority and St. Johns River Water Management District accompany these programs, in an attempt to change the landscape and irrigation paradigm. Meanwhile, Volusia County government is working on a Water Wise Landscaping Ordinance for new development, that if properly enforced, will facilitate significant changes.