Distributed water conservation provides significant benefits to overall water availability, particularly if adopted at a large scale. Conservation strategies, such as rainwater harvesting, xeriscaping, and permeable pavements are desirable because they conserve water, increase recharge near dwellings, and reduce dangerous stormwater runoff. Though conserving water is an admirable goal, justifying retrofits for water conservation mechanisms to existing structures is difficult because water prices are very low in much of the United States. However, stormwater regulations and the increasing implementation of stormwater utilities by cities enable other avenues of adoption for these practices. This thesis reviews water conservation strategies, examines local and state policies, and presents a “model policy”. The model policy design uses a comparative approach to identify useful incentives and aggregates best management and policy practices from several states to serve as a guide and accelerate implementation. / text

2 pp. / RainScapes are the ultimate in water efficient landscaping. RainScapes are beautiful landscapes that once established rely entirely on rain and stormwater (gray water too if available)while preserving tap water for indoor and drinking water needs.

2 pp. / Successful Xeriscapes start with good planning and design. This brochure will help homeowners and landscapers design landscapes that are attractive, low water and low maintenance.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / This thesis attempts to analyze the prevalence of native and non-native trees used in distinct Tucson residential subdivisions, the total number of trees in each neighborhood, as well as the dominant landscape style and tree species present. The overall concept is to make comparative analyses with the collected data and identify trends within the context of historic development, landscape aesthetic ideals, and environmental resource sustainability. This analysis will serve as a tool for community discussion and ultimately allow for recommendations to be made with the goal of increasing the sustainability of residential landscapes through the benefits of native trees.

2 pp. / The most difficult part of conversion from a lawn to a low water (xeriscape) landscape is the removal of a lawn. By removing a Bermuda grass lawn, it is estimated that water savings of 50 -75% is possible. Potential water savings comes from the fact that water is applied to a limited amount of total yard space, compared to the greater water needs of a continuous grass-covered area. Also, by planting low water use plants, less maintenance is required and substantial cost savings can be realized. Turf removal and subsequent weed suppression is achievable using readily available herbicides.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / William P. Winslow III / Access to water has always been a critical and often times conflicted issue along Colorado's Front Range. With current and projected population growth in the state of Colorado it can be expected that the importance of the issue will only increase. In order to control future conflicts and costs, communities throughout Colorado have started to update and implement water conservation programs to address demand and delivery issues. A water demand category that has been commonly targeted by community water conservation programs is the designed urban landscape. This study explores the effectiveness of landscape water regulations in urban, landscaped open space as tools for water conservation. The study examines the effectiveness of landscape regulations using three landscape regulations in the city of Colorado Springs. The three landscape regulations represent city and development landscape regulations and guidelines implemented before and after 1998. The effectiveness of the three regulations is measured from the results of four evaluations (regulation composition, landscape design, landscape installation and maintenance, and landscape water use) that represent the steps necessary for the development and maintenance of water efficient landscapes. The tool of measure in the four evaluations is the application and enforcement of the research based Xeriscape principles in the codes, policies, and guidelines found in the three landscape regulations. The results indicated that regulation changes that occurred in the City Landscape Code and Policy Manual in the late 1990's effectively created water conserving landscape regulations. The post 1998 landscape regulations used a diverse combination of water-wise principles that were not only suggested by the codes, policies, and guidelines but also enforced through inspections and submittals. The diversity of water-wise principles in the regulations and the balance of citations and enforcement were the major elements that reduced water use and increased conservation in the evaluated landscape tracts.

abstract: As a result of growing populations and uncertain resource availability, urban areas are facing pressure from federal and state agencies, as well as residents, to promote conservation programs that provide services for people and mitigate environmental harm. Current strategies in US cities aim to reduce the impact of municipal and household resource use, including programs to promote water conservation. One common conservation program incentivizes the replacement of water-intensive turfgrass lawns with landscapes that use less water consisting of interspersed drought-tolerant shrubs and trees with rock or mulch groundcover (e.g. xeriscapes, rain gardens, water-wise landscapes). A handful of previous studies in experimental landscapes have shown that converting a turfgrass yard to a shrub-dominated landscape has the potential to increase rates of nitrate (NO3-) leaching. However, no studies have examined the drivers or patterns across diverse management practices. In this research, I compared soil nutrient retention and cycling in turfgrass and lawn-alternative xeriscaped yards along a chronosequence of time since land cover change in Tempe, Arizona, in the semi-arid US Southwest. Soil inorganic extractable nitrogen (N) pools were greater in xeriscapes compared to turfgrass lawns. On average xeriscapes contained 2.5±0.4 g NO3--N/m2 in the first 45 cm of soil, compared to 0.6±0.7 g NO3--N/m2 in lawns. Soil NO3--N pools in xeriscaped yards also varied significantly with time: pools were largest 9-13 years after cover change and declined to levels comparable to turfgrass at 18-21 years. Variation in soil extractable NO3--N with landscape age was strongly influenced by management practices that control soil water availability, including shrub cover, the presence of sub-surface plastic sheeting, and the frequency of irrigation. This research is the first to explore the ecological outcomes and temporal dynamics of an increasingly common, ‘sustainable’ land use practice that is universally promoted in US cities. Our findings show that transitioning from turfgrass to water-efficient residential landscaping can lead to an accumulation of NO3--N that may be lost from the soil rooting zone over time, through leaching following irrigation or rainfall. These results have implications for best management practices to optimize the benefits of water-conserving residential yards. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biology 2015

abstract: For the last 10 years, the American Southwest has been experiencing the most persistent drought conditions on record. Based on future climactic predictions, there is a dire need to reduce water usage within Phoenix. An environmentally responsible behavior such as low water use landscaping (xeriscaping), has been shown to reduce household water consumption by 40%-70%. While much is known regarding the relationship between socio-demographics and xeriscaping choices, the influence of other variables remains to be explored. Using data from the 2017 Phoenix Area Social Survey, this study investigates the influence of two additional variables - ecological worldview and place identity on xeriscaping choice. Data was analyzed using two models - Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Linear Probability Model (LPM). Ecological worldview and place identity, along with income, ethnicity, and gender, were all found to be positively related to xeriscape preference. Additionally, when compared to the LPM, the traditional OLS was found to still be the most robust and appropriate model when measuring landscape preference. Finally, results suggested that programs to foster identity with the local desert mountain parks may help to increase xeriscaping in the Valley and thus lower residential water use. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2018